There is one match in the Vitality Blast on Saturday and it comes from the North Group where the former champions Leicestershire play host to a Derbyshire side who have high hopes for their campaign this year.
I think it is fair to say that these aren’t two of the deepest squads in the competition so if they are going to push for the knockout stages then they will know this is a match they really need to win. Add in the fact it is a relatively local derby and this one should be competitive.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Cricket channel with the build-up to the game beginning at 2.15pm and the first ball due to be bowled at Grace Road at 2.30pm.
Leicestershire
The three-time winners of this competition always target this event so they will be disappointed to have lost their opening match. There were positives to take from it but in a group where three sides really stand out, to lose at home to one of the other five teams feels like they are already behind the eight ball. The Foxes will be only too aware that they can’t afford to lose their opening two matches at home to sides they will be battling with for the fourth spot.
The positive for the Foxes was the young leg spinner Rehan Ahmed who excelled on his senior T20 debut for the club. He is an exciting prospect who should maintain some control in the middle overs and with Naveen ul Haq patrolling the start and end of the bowling innings Leicestershire should have most of the bowling covered. They look a batter light though so they are going to need their senior players to stand up and be counted.
Derbyshire
The Falcons were also beaten in their opening match but they will be confident that they showed enough in defeat to suggest they can be competitive in this competition. That is even more likely to be the case when a couple of key players get up to speed. They will know they will need to bowl better than what they did in their loss to the Birmingham Bears, but to be fair to the Derbyshire bowlers, the Birmingham batting looks to have clicked straight away.
The positive was that even with a couple of key batters not really getting going they still nearly scored 200 against a team who have a good bowling attack so there was certainly enough to work with. Derbyshire had a few players playing their first game of the season on Friday night but now they have the problem of backing up a performance a lot less than 24 hours later. I continually point out that doing that is not as easy as it sounds.
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Key Players
Rehan Ahmed looks a seriously good talent and with the Birmingham Bears spinners combining for 4/60 from eight overs, the Leicestershire leg spinner will be looked upon as a key man with the ball. He can also clobber it with the bat so this exciting youngster needs to go well for the Foxes to win.
Shan Masood has been one of the stars of the county summer so far this season and he has been rewarded for that with the captaincy of the T20 side. That team needs its captain to lead by example which is what the Pakistan international will be out to do here.
Betting
I’ll go with a couple of bets over the course of the match. The first of those is for there to be more than 316.5 runs in the contest. I took the over here in the opening match on Thursday and kind of got a bit lucky because Leicestershire were shot to pieces in the first over with the bat but thankfully they got enough for the total to limp over the line. I would be surprised if they are three down as early in this match as they were then so I like the over again. We saw on Friday night that Derbyshire don’t have a huge amount with the ball but have plenty of batting depth and I think you can say the same about Leicestershire. The pitch played well on Thursday night and the outfield was quick so I’m expecting a high scoring game.
Rehan Ahmed is fairly new to the circuit which will be to his advantage but followers of county cricket will be well aware of the talent the teenage leggie has to offer and we saw that in the opening match on Thursday when he took 2/22. Derbyshire lost four wickets to spin on Friday evening and they won’t have seen too much of Ahmed so I can see a situation where the England under-19 international weaves his magic once again. I think he is worth chancing to be the leading Leicestershire bowler in this match.
Tips
Back Over 316.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
Back R.Ahmed Top Leicestershire Bowler for a 2/10 stake at 6.00 with William Hill
Back him here:
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