We’re not yet two months into the county cricket season but in the mish, mash, mosh schedule of it the third and final competition begins on Sunday despite the other two events being nowhere near their completion.
Sunday sees the start of the Royal London One Day Cup, the 50 over tournament which was won last year by Gloucestershire and while much of the scheduling has changed this year the one thing that hasn’t is this tournament ends in a finale at Lord’s in September.
Format
Many strange and quirky schedules and formats are used for domestic cricket in the UK and this tournament is no different. In the past it has been played in a block but the people who make the decisions have decided to have the event in two sections this year before the knockout stages towards the end of the season.
Unlike in previous seasons when the two groups of nine have been random they have reverted to North and South Groups like in the NatWest T20 Blast to cut down on the travelling. Each side plays the other eight in their group once with the top four qualifying for the quarter finals where the tournament becomes a knockout event.
Each match is over 50 overs and uses the international rules but unlike in the NatWest T20 Blast just the one overseas player is allowed per side as per the County Championship.
North Group
This group consists of Durham, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Lancashire and Worcestershire and from the face of it looks very competitive indeed.
Warwickshire have been in three of the last six finals of this tournament although two of them were when it was played over 40 overs. Durham won the competition two years ago and Nottinghamshire were the last champions of the 40 over event three seasons ago so this group has a decent pedigree.
South Group
The South contains the defending champions Gloucestershire and last year’s runners up Surrey. They are joined by Glamorgan, Essex, Kent, Hampshire, Middlesex, Sussex and Somerset in what is a really strong looking section.
Some of the best one day sides of recent times are in this group with Gloucestershire, Essex, Kent, Hampshire, Glamorgan and Surrey all making quarter finals in either or both of the one day tournaments last season.
Betting
This tournament is often the hardest one to bet on I find. One of the reasons for that is it is probably the least important of the three competitions with prize money in the Championship at its biggest and the commercial effect that a good T20 run brings. Another reason for it is the important part of the tournament comes late in the season when injuries and fatigue sets in.
Usually I like taking sides who aren’t competing in other competitions in this tournament as at least you know they will be taking it seriously but it begins too early this year for that so it might be that the best way to play the outright market is to monitor it initially and assess things in the opening section of the competition before getting stuck in more in the second half when the tournament resumes.
That said as with all markets we need to start somewhere so I’m going to get involved in one before we get going in this tournament and that comes in the form of Kent who look overpriced to me.
Kent were semi-finalists in this competition two years ago and lost out in the quarter final last year. They have some of the most exciting young batsmen in the game in Daniel Bell-Drummond, Sam Northeast, Alex Blake and Sam Billings and they have a couple of competent bowlers at this level in James Tredwell and Matt Coles while the likes of David Griffiths and Mitchell Claydon can deliver the goods too.
I think this format is the one best suited to Kent at the minute and with the youngsters having a couple of years of experience under their belts they should be well set now to challenge for silverware. At 20/1 they’re my pick for this tournament to begin with.
Tips
Back Kent to win Royal London One Day Cup (e/w) for a 1.5/10 stake at 21.00 with Betfred (1/2 1-2)
Back them here:
