The third Ashes Test might begin on Wednesday but that doesn’t detract from their being another set of fixtures in the Royal London One Day Cup. There are a total of six matches taking place on Wednesday with some big fixtures among them.
We’re still in the early days of this tournament but a rain affected weekend and a couple of poor performances already have the likes of Northamptonshire and Lancashire chasing points if they are to push for qualification. They host Leicestershire and Middlesex respectively on Wednesday.
On the flip side Durham, Derbyshire, Surrey and Yorkshire all have an early win to their name in the competition and go in search of a second one which will have them looking handy in as the early group tables begin to form.
A lot of the matches are closely priced up here and I think that is fair enough. I’m tempted to take Derbyshire to beat Gloucestershire at odds against but there is enough doubt there for me to avoid them. Another value bet I was lining up was Middlesex to beat Lancashire. Lancashire were well beaten by Essex in their last match but Middlesex won’t have Finn and that puts me off.
I think Surrey, Northants and Essex will beat Yorkshire, Leicestershire and Warwickshire respectively but there isn’t much value in any of their prices but I do see some value in one of the other matches.
Somerset host Durham in a big match for the home side. Durham are 10/11 favourites to win and I think that is actually a big price in the circumstances. It is like the match is priced up from a couple of years ago when Somerset were a strong force in one day cricket but in that time their batting has faded away with the likes of Craig Kieswetter and Jos Buttler departing and Marcus Trescothick on the decline but their bowling strength in players like Steve Kirby and Alfonso Thomas is no longer there either.
Durham are improving year on year as a one day force and even their experienced players like Paul Collingwood and Phil Mustard are still performing strongly for them. The likes of John Hastings and Chris Rushworth are going well with the ball and Mark Stoneman and Calum MacLeod are both good with the bat so the defending champions are looking strong again.
I fancy Durham to come through this match. Somerset don’t have the batting depth they used to and we saw against Hampshire in the T20 last week how quickly a winning position can be chucked away. The Overton twins take wickets with the ball but they can go around the park as well. Durham just look the all round better team and I’ll take them as my only bet on a trappy Wednesday.
Back Durham to beat Somerset for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Coral
Blog 2015 Cricket P/L -16pts
