There are two nights of Vitality Blast action to go before another break for the County Championship and the first of them comes on Thursday evening when five matches take place with the end of the group stage now very much in sight.
Although the women’s Ashes Test gets the TV treatment on Thursday, there is a televised Blast match once play finishes at Trent Bridge and as ever the other matches can all be viewed on the county live streams.
North Group
It is a big night in the North Group with four of the top five in action on an evening which could go a long way to telling us which four teams will qualify for the quarter final from this section. The Birmingham Bears are the leaders in the group and they head to Headingley to take on a Yorkshire side who are in fifth and with their net run rate being the worst of anyone in contention the home side really needs a win there. Third host second in the other match in the group when Worcestershire welcome Nottinghamshire to New Road.
South Group
This is where the televised action will come from and with the leaders Somerset not in action Surrey have the chance to move back to the top of the table when they host Middlesex in the second London derby of the campaign. Middlesex have lost all 10 matches they have played and are looking to play the role of spoiler but even that might be optimistic. Essex are firmly in third place in the table and they will be looking to consolidate that position when rivals Kent are the visitors to Chelmsford while Gloucestershire are looking to keep their campaign alive when they go up against Sussex at Bristol.
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TV Match Betting
I’m not going to get too involved in the TV game because as T20 matches go this one looks like the biggest mismatch we have seen for a while but I do expect the boundaries to flow with Middlesex way out of their depth, particularly with the ball, but who have nothing to lose now so they can just swing the bat at everything and it isn’t like Surrey have been particularly tight with the ball either with the exception of Sunil Narine.
Surrey have plenty of power with the bat, as we saw on this ground against Kent in one of the many TV games Surrey have been involved in this season, and against an attack which is way too one-paced and the same in the seam department if the likes of Will Jacks or Laurie Evans gets in and bats a chunk of the innings then everything will be set up for the hitters to come. The boundary line for this one is 41.5 and with one team playing pressure free and the other full of power I expect that to be covered.
Other Match Betting
There is only one other bet which takes my fancy on Thursday and that comes in the match between Essex and Kent at Chelmsford. These are two of the deepest and more powerful batting units in the competition and I expect that to be on show over the course of this match particularly with Kent missing arguably their two best bowlers in Fred Klaassen and Kane Richardson for this one. They are the go to bowlers for Kent so the Essex batters should be able to get away here.
We saw the other night against Somerset that when the Essex bowlers get it wrong on this ground they are not averse to going the distance and the Kent top order certainly have plenty of players who can take advantage of that. The sixes line in this match is only 13.5 which doesn’t feel nearly high enough, particularly when you consider that Somerset smashed 16 of them on their own here on Monday. Essex hit seven of them in that match and four of their bigger hitters faced a total of 19 balls between them. There is more to come from them and Kent look perfect dance partners to tango with so I like the over here.
Tips
Back Surrey vs Middlesex – Over 41.5 boundaries for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with William Hill
Back it here:
Back Essex vs Kent – Over 13.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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