The second place at the Vitality Blast finals day will be filled on Thursday evening when the North Group winners Birmingham Bears host the fourth placed team in the South Group in Hampshire at Edgbaston.
These two teams are no strangers to making it through to the big day and going all the way when they get there and so they will be eager to get back to the big dance and show their skills on the big stage once again.
Birmingham Bears
I guess you would say that the form of the Birmingham Bears has already been franked in these quarter finals when you consider that Yorkshire came through the first of them on Wednesday night. It will be interesting to see how the Bears go here. They won nine of their 14 matches in the group stage but there was very much a feast or famine feel about them and I just wonder if the added pressure of a knockout clash will be their undoing.
The Bears have been particularly all or nothing with the bat this season. They have scored over 200 in half of their matches, and while we should acknowledge that they play to a short boundary at Edgbaston that is still some effort. At the same time though when they have played on a pitch for a second time in quick succession they have been restricted to 147/9 and shot out for 101 so they are not averse to falling in a heap. One issue is that their bowlers have conceded 200 on four occasions and 197 on another.
Hampshire
When Hampshire started with four straight defeats this season they could have been forgiven for jacking the campaign in and putting all their efforts into the elusive County Championship title. That message clearly wasn’t relayed to this squad though because from a position of adversity they ended up qualifying for the quarter finals with a match to spare courtesy of nine wins in their final 10 group matches. Having won nine group games they could be forgiven for thinking they would have finished higher up than fourth but they’ll also know they made finals day from fourth last season.
Hampshire have gone about things the right way. While they are a team who like to post a score and defend it, they purposely bowled first in their last group game in case they need to chase a score here. They also rotated a few players to get them time in the side. The other two things I like about this Hampshire side is they played a pressure match against Gloucestershire last week and came out on top and England have ignored them which means James Vince is available here.
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Key Players
Adam Hose has absolutely caught fire for the Birmingham Bears in recent times. His last four scores in the competition have been 63*, 110*, 20 and 50 so he is someone the home side will look to in order to bolster their total.
James Vince is the leading run scorer in the competition with 622 runs despite him missing a game earlier in the campaign. He has three 50s and two tons this term and when he goes well Hampshire tend to go very well.
Betting
I mentioned above how Birmingham have struggled on used wickets this season and given that Edgbaston has just hosted a Test match and have the second T20 here on Saturday it is unlikely this match will be played on a fresh strip, particularly when you consider this match was only confirmed as late as Sunday night. We saw on Wednesday that the first quarter final was played on a used pitch and I expect the same here, potentially the Test strip, which would bring Hampshire right into the game. They have a skilful bowling unit who are able to extract what is in a wicket rather than have the skills to plough their trade on a flat deck. Hampshire played on a pathetic pitch at Cardiff early in the group stages and were forced to play on a used pitch last Friday when Sky changed their match at the last minute. They won both matches with their bowlers defending ordinary totals on both occasions. They did the same in the quarter final at Trent Bridge last year too. 200/6 is the lowest score Birmingham have defended this season and they failed to defend 168 at Old Trafford on Sunday. Hampshire were the form team with nine wins from 10 matches anyway but put conditions in play too and I think the 6/5 on them is a big price.
I’ll also have a play on James Fuller to be the top Hampshire batter. Hampshire were going nowhere on that used pitch last Friday until Fuller came in and took advantage of some terrible death bowling to smash a quick 40 odd which ended up winning them the match. Edgbaston fits him nicely with the shorter straight boundaries and we saw on Sunday that Birmingham can go the distance at the death. In fairness we’ve seen that before then too. Three of their death bowling options – Henry Brookes, Craig Miles and Carlos Brathwaite are going at over nine an over this season so Fuller might well be able to spark a Hampshire total into life. If the openers do fail again the 25/1 on Fuller will soon look big.
Tips
Back Hampshire to beat Birmingham Bears for a 3/10 stake at 2.20 with BetVictor
Back them here:
Back J.Fuller Top Hampshire Batter for a 1/10 stake at 26.00 with Bet365
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