The Vitality Blast competition continues on Wednesday when another five group matches take place up and down the two groups. We are beginning to reach the end of the first quarter of the campaign and are starting to get a clearer picture of the runners and riders.
That will continue on Wednesday where we finally have another match on the TV to enjoy. The other four matches will be on the various live streams so there is no need to miss any of the action if you have a punt.
North Group
We get underway earlier than usual on Wednesday because Lancashire are hosting a double header and are being quite unique with the men’s game being the first half of the day. They host Derbyshire in a clash between two sides who have started the tournament well. Two teams who haven’t made the start they would have wanted meet at the Riverside where Durham play host to Worcestershire and there is also a key match down at Wantage Road where Northamptonshire look to build on their two match unbeaten spell when they host a Leicestershire side who knocked off Yorkshire last time out and will be eager for another victory.
South Group
The TV game comes from the South Group on Wednesday evening where we get to follow the fortunes of the champions Kent. They have lost their opening three matches and will be keen to avoid a fourth defeat in succession. They travel to Bristol to take on a Gloucestershire side who have a win and two defeats, the last of which came at The Oval on Tuesday evening. The other match sees the leaders Somerset looking to scoot clear at the top of the table when they welcome a stuttering Sussex side to Taunton.
Special Offer
Sign up for a Boylesports account to get up to £25 in free bets! Perfect offer for this series! Click the image below for this great offer! New accounts only. 18+ T&Cs apply. Gamble Aware.
TV Match Betting
I’ll go with a couple of bets over the course of the TV match and the first of those comes in the form of over 330.5 runs. That would appear a big line but I’m not convinced it is high enough because both these teams bat deep and there are some really high class operators in both teams. Kent have posted scores of 162/6, 184/4 and 167/7 in losing efforts and clearly they have been losing efforts because they haven’t been able to stem the flow of runs against them. That isn’t likely to be a good thing on a ground where the straight boundaries are small against a team who have Benny Howell batting at seven. In the two full matches they have played Gloucestershire have scored 199/9 and 193/7 but only one of those was a winning effort. I think there is enough to suggest we will see more than 330.5 runs here.
Ryan Higgins is the leading run scorer for Gloucestershire this season and he was the only one who got going against a decent Surrey bowling attack on Tuesday evening. To have scored 30 odd against the likes of Narine, Pollard, Topley, Curran et al should give him a lot of confidence, particularly when you consider he’ll face nothing of that quality in this match. That makes me think that the 8/1 on offer for him to top score for Gloucestershire for a second night in succession is worth taking. One reason why Kent are struggling this season is because they have been awful at the death with the ball so batting at five Higgins should get the chance to play himself in before feasting on the buffet at the end. He’s a big price.
Other Match Betting
The other bet I like comes up at the Riverside where the 311.5 run line looks a touch on the low side to me. The Riverside is known for the big boundaries and vast outfield but scores there last season were on the higher side and with two real quality spinner in the Durham ranks it wouldn’t surprise me if the boundaries come in a little, if only to negate the overs of spin that Worcestershire have the potential to send down.
Clearly it isn’t ideal that Durham are without Ashton Turner for this match but even in his absence they have posted scores of 192 in the match he got injured in and 158/9 against a decent looking Birmingham Bears side. Worcestershire have put up scores of 172/9, 164/9 and 171/8 without winning any of those matches so clearly they have been found wanting with the ball. They are still waiting for Moeen Ali and Dwayne Bravo to arrive so nothing is going to change in their bowling ranks which makes me think we’ll see the 311.5 run line covered here.
Tips
Back Gloucestershire vs Kent – Over 330.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
Back R.Higgins Top Gloucestershire Batter for a 1/10 stake at 9.00 with Betfair
Back Durham vs Worcestershire – Over 311.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2022
