The Royal London One Day Cup continues on Tuesday with a televised clash which sees Glamorgan taking on Kent. Kent are going well in one day cricket this season and will hope to win what will be their first competitive outing in this tournament after their opening match was washed out.
Glamorgan also suffered a washout in their first match of the competition and that isn’t ideal because they began the event with a two point deduction after a dodgy wicket problem last season. With only eight matches in the group phase each washout makes their qualifying task a lot harder. Luckily for them the forecast is good for this match.
Glamorgan failed to qualify for the T20 quarter finals and while they have been lively in the Championship their best chance of success this season comes in this competition despite their points deduction so we can be assured they will give this their all but having lost some key players since last season they don’t look as strong.
Worse still for the Dragons they will be without Graham Wagg as he is undergoing concussion protocol after being sconed twice in a five over slog out in the T20 on Friday night. He is a lively batsman in one day cricket and a key part of their bowling attack so Glamorgan are effectively losing two players in one.
Kent have been excellent in the T20 competition and even though they have been going without an overseas player they cruised to the top of the South Group in that competition and having made the semi-finals of this particular tournament last season their one day record is up there with most at the present time.
Kent have named the same squad they’ve been using in recent matches which means that Rob Key once again misses out with the likes of Daniel Bell-Drummond and Sam Northeast getting another chance to shine. Matt Hunn is in the squad as is James Tredwell while Alex Blake is forming a nice reputation down the order.
These two met in the T20 at Tunbridge Wells 11 days ago and Glamorgan won a bit of a thriller by a single run but they needed 53 off 28 from Wagg to get them up to a total they could defend but given that he isn’t around for this match someone is going to have to step up for the home side if they are to be competitive here.
You can’t even think the slow wicket will suit Glamorgan because Tredwell and Cowdrey can get through 20 tidy overs for Kent and the likes of Northeast and Billings play spin so well. Looking at the Glamorgan batting line up they really need one of their two South African imports to go well because they don’t bat too deep and Ingram in particular has been very much all or nothing this season.
I think given the positive morale and confidence they take into this competition Kent look good things to me and I’d expect them to come through this one.
For those who like their player performance bets there is a line which looks low enough to go at here and that is the one for Michael Hogan. Usually I don’t like taking players who only offer one scoring facet but Hogan is so good I’m prepared to hit his line which looks quite low at 31. In the recent T20 game I mentioned the Australian took three wickets and a catch and in the Championship game between the two he took nine wickets, a catch and scored 28 runs.
Clearly there is something about his action or what he does with the ball that Kent’s batsmen don’t get on with so it would be no surprise were he to take a couple of wickets here particularly with damp and heavier conditions than a couple of weeks ago after all the recent rain.
Back Kent to beat Glamorgan for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Ladbrokes
Back M.Hogan’s Performance – 31pts and over for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
