The Royal London One Day Cup continues on Monday with a televised match and three other matches as the counties look to push towards a quarter final place as the group stage cracks on at a pace.
Sunday wasn’t the best day for the competition with the embarrassing scenes at Glamorgan which just so happened to be picked up on the TV. For me personally it was a good one as all three bets which were settled all won and I managed to make over 10pts profit which was needed after a bad couple of days.
Going into Monday we have Yorkshire hosting Leicestershire at Headingley in the morning start while there are later starts for the matches between Northamptonshire and Somerset and Warwickshire and Glamorgan. There is also an afternoon start for the televised match between Sussex and Middlesex at Hove.
Sussex go into this match off the back of a heavy defeat at Canterbury on Sunday. That was already their third defeat in the tournament and they will need to win every game they have left if they are going to be involved in the latter stages of the tournament.
Middlesex haven’t fared much better in fairness. They have only won one of their four matches so far with one of them washed out but a win here will move them into the group on five points and they will have every chance of qualifying for the next stage.
Sussex have been having big problems with their bowling attack this season and they have failed to restrict any side to anything meaningful so far. Their batting has been put under pressure as a result and they simply don’t bat deep enough to cope with that.
Middlesex have had batting issues of their own. They have been shot out for 161 and 117 in this tournament already but when they did get it right with the bat against Kent they came through easily. With Sussex struggling with the ball their batsmen should find life easier here and if they do the Middlesex attack should support them well.
I think Middlesex are worth chancing here. At some point Sussex are going to give this one up and concentrate on the other two competitions which need their attention. It might not come here but we’ve already seen that it might not need to. Middlesex have added Andrew Balbirnie to their squad for this match to give them another batting option and if they can get their batting right here they have more than enough with the ball to get it done.
One thing Sussex have done is break through the opposition early. Alfonso Thomas and Ollie Robinson can handle things well but it is what comes after that which has been costing Sussex. With that in mind though I think it is worth taking Sam Robson to score under 28.5 runs.
His three scores in this competition so far have been 14, 15 and 0 and he hasn’t exactly been pulling up trees in the Championship this season either. In that competition he made 8 and 15 against Sussex at Hove earlier in the season and he isn’t a one day player. Sussex have taken a wicket with the first ball of the innings in two of their three matches so there is every chance Robson’s poor run continues here.
I’m always a sucker for a big priced top batsman in these day/night TV matches because it is often tricky to bat second with the natural light being replaced by the artificial light and with that in mind Sussex’s Will Beer is overpriced to top score for them. Sussex rely a lot on Luke Wright and Ed Joyce and if they fail against a lively Middlesex attack then someone down the order could go well. Against Notts last week he scored 42 which was enough to come second. He’s a handy hitter down the order and on the off chance those above him fail he could deliver an unlikely top score at a very big price.
Away from the TV cameras I quite like Northamptonshire to beat Somerset at odds against. Northants must be wondering how they won on Sunday having been reduced to 19-6 at one stage after losing three wickets to the first three balls of the match but they did win that match and that should give them plenty of confidence.
Somerset lost a close match at Bristol on Sunday so their confidence has taken a hit and I’m not convinced they’ll put the necessary runs up on the board here. Already in this tournament they have been bowled out for 74 in 10 overs and been reduced to 169-4, 146-5 and 88-6.
Northants don’t let up with the ball so if Somerset get themselves in a pickle again they could be shot out cheaply. There is more of a concern with Northants with the bat but on their home pitch against an attack who have been hit everywhere so far in the tournament I’m happy to take Northants here.
In the other matches I’m going to leave the Glamorgan game alone because we would be guessing to how they have coped mentally with what happened on Sunday. It might be that with all that is going on their focus isn’t on the cricket but it would be a guess. I think Yorkshire will win the other game but there is a different bet I like there.
That is Glenn Maxwell’s performance. The line is at 48 and he’s covered that with the bat in his last three appearances and generally when he hits form with the bat he sustains that form for a good burst so he should go well with the bat here but with the wickets tiring more and more his off spin comes into play. He’s also always in the game in the field so that 48pts has a good chance of being achieved.
Back Middlesex to beat Sussex for a 4/10 stake at 2.25 with Betway
Back S.Robson Under 28.5 runs for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Coral
Back W.Beer Top Sussex Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 34.00 with Bet365
Back Northants to beat Somerset for a 4/10 stake at 2.20 with Ladbrokes
Back G.Maxwell’s Performance – 48pts or more for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
Blog cricket YTD: -23.72pts
