The Vitality Blast returns on Friday evening as the home straight in the group stage gets underway ahead of its conclusion on Sunday. We have a full round of matches on what is a pivotal night in the competition with so many teams playing their penultimate match.
The Test match has the TV coverage in the early part of the day but the beauty of the early start at Edgbaston is that there is still time for a Blast match to be shown afterwards. As has been the case all season the other matches will be live on the county streams.
North Group
Just two points separates the top five in the North Group heading into Friday evening so it is a massive set of matches. The big game comes from Headingley where fourth places Yorkshire host the leaders Birmingham Bears. Birmingham have already qualified for the quarter finals and will secure a home game with a win here. Lancashire are the closest challengers to Birmingham at the top of the table. They head to bottom of the pile Worcestershire. Northamptonshire conclude their campaign away to Leicestershire on Friday evening knowing that anything but a victory will end their quarter final hopes. If they win they will need results to go their way on Sunday but it gives them a chance of qualifying. Nottinghamshire host Durham in the other match in what is a dead rubber.
South Group
The TV match comes from the South Group on Friday night and it is effectively a last 16 clash as Hampshire host Gloucestershire. Hampshire know that if they win the match they will seal their quarter final spot while Gloucestershire, after losing at home to Hampshire last week, have only one option. They have to win else their qualifying hopes are over. Elsewhere, Surrey will seal top spot and a home quarter final if they see off Kent at The Oval while Somerset will be looking to keep a home quarter final in their own hands when they meet Middlesex at Lord’s. The other match sees third placed Essex making the trip to Hove to take on a Sussex side who have already been eliminated from the competition.
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TV Match Betting
I’ll go with a couple of bets over the course of the evening in the TV match at the Ageas Bowl. The first is a performance bet on Liam Dawson, the Hampshire all-rounder who has been in decent touch over the last month. His Vitality Blast form has been very good and to ensure that he hasn’t come off the top of it he took 10 wickets in the Championship match in the week. He has a performance line of 31.5 which means he needs two wickets to cover it or a wicket and a dozen runs. He hasn’t been batting too often this season with Hampshire throwing big hitters up the order ahead of him but he did bat at Bristol last week and is a perfectly efficient batter. Dawson is bowling wonderfully, fields in key positions and might well be needed with the bat. That line feels coverable.
The other bet I’ll go with is Jack Taylor who missed out on the top score by three runs when these two met last week but he is value to go one better here. Hampshire tend to struggle against players in the back end of the innings who can hit the ball to all parts. In the previous match on this ground they couldn’t contain Kieron Pollard while in a match prior to that John Simpson of Middlesex did exactly the same. Taylor is that sort of player and he made 37 last week without really hitting the ball in the middle of the bat. Taylor has already posted solid efforts of 31* against Kent and 46 against Sussex so he is scoring nicely and looks a big price here.
Other Matches Betting
Leicestershire have come alive in recent times and while they have only beaten the three lowest sides in the competition in their last three matches, they have won them emphatically and look to be making a late charge for glory in terms of nabbing the final quarter final spot. If they are to give themselves a chance of getting that heading into the final day of the group stage then they have to beat Northamptonshire at Grace Road and at odds against they look good value to do that.
Northamptonshire have gone well this season and deserve to be in the last eight but they have just fizzled out over the last week or so and while their three crippling defeats were to Derbyshire, Birmingham and Yorkshire, the fact that all of them have come via surrendering a mountain of runs gives off the impression that they are struggling with the ball a little too much. Their talisman at the death, Jimmy Neesham has come off the top of his game and registered 1/38, 0/42 and 1/41 in his last three games. If this becomes a battle of bowling at the death, which it very well could, then Leicestershire have a huge advantage and look the value bet here.
Tips
Back L.Dawson’s Performance – Over 31.5pts for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
Back J.Taylor Top Gloucestershire Batter for a 1/10 stake at 36.00 with Betfair
Back Leicestershire to beat Northamptonshire for a 3/10 stake at 2.20 with Sky Bet
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