The first televised match in the Royal London One Day Cup this season comes from Wantage Road on Saturday as the defending champions Durham head to Northampton to take on a dangerous Northamptonshire side.
Durham will be looking to put up a big defence of their title while Northants will be out to push for a Lord’s final. Both sides are in the middle of good seasons in other competitions so we should see some good cricket on show here.
Northants have made it into the quarter final of the NatWest T20 Blast and they will have the confidence of that to use here. Their big question mark in this tournament is whether they have the solid batting depth to go for 50 overs. If they do then with their bowling attack they are right to believe they could be challengers in this competition.
Northants haven’t actually named their squad for this match but it is unlikely to be too different from the ones they have been using for the 20 over competition now that David Willey is officially back from injury and back in the side.
Durham were excellent in this competition last year and they look well balanced with the bat and the ball. They’ve been going fairly well in the Championship this season so we know they can bat long periods which 50 overs still is even though it is a one day game. Their bowling looks very strong and even without Ben Stokes and Mark Wood there still doesn’t appear any let up in their attack.
Stokes and Wood are both away with England while Calum MacLeod remains on international duty with Scotland so the likes of Usman Arshad and Graham Clark could get good runs in the side in the early part of this competition.
Both teams will want to get off a quick start with only eight group matches in this competition but this might be a day for digging in and plodding through. There has been some biblical rain in the Northampton area in the 24hrs prior to this match so the wicket could be tacky with plenty of moisture and the early start is likely to assist the bowlers even more so I’m not expecting a high scoring classic here.
Both sides have bowlers who can run through the opposition so I quite like there to be more than 14.5 wickets in the game. Neither bat massively deep and both sides have all-rounders quite high up in their batting so wickets will fall here in the bowler friendly conditions so that line looks a wicket or two too low to me.
Another bet I like is for Richard Levi to go under 32.5 runs. I’m not sure seaming and swinging conditions on a wicket with plenty of moisture in it are the best conditions for Richard Levi and when you throw into the mix the quality of the Durham new ball attack he is going to face a tricky time to get going. He is fine when the ball comes on nicely and he can hit through the line but he won’t be able to do that here so I’ll go under on his run line.
Away from the TV two of the better counties in England meet at Welbeck Colliery when Nottinghamshire host Warwickshire. Nottinghamshire have a powerful batting line up but I’m not convinced by their bowlers and over this distance they might be a side handicapped by the fact a number of their batsmen don’t bowl.
Warwickshire have Ian Bell in their ranks for this match while Jonathan Trott remains one of the best one day players at this level. Unlike Nottinghamshire, Warwickshire have plenty of bowling options and they have some really top class batsmen. They were finalists last year and at odds against they’re value to start with a win here.
Back Northants vs Durham – Over 14.5 wickets for a 4/10 stake at 2.20 with Betway
Back R.Levi Under 32.5 runs for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Paddy Power
Back Warwickshire to beat Nottinghamshire for a 3/10 stake at 2.15 with Betway
