The Vitality Blast continues on Friday night with a full set of matches as we head towards the last week of the group stage of the domestic T20 competition with so much still to play for across both of the groups.
We have a TV match to enjoy over the course of the evening and all of the matches that aren’t a part of the TV coverage will have their own live streams provided by the home county so there is no need to miss out on any of the action.
North Group
It is from the North Group where we have the TV match on Friday evening as the second Roses match of the season takes place when Lancashire host Yorkshire at Old Trafford as the home side look to go about strengthening their quarter final claims and the visitors looking to rejuvenate theirs. The Birmingham Bears have the chance to be the first team into the quarter finals when they host their rivals Worcestershire at Edgbaston while Northamptonshire will look to consolidate their quarter final hopes when they make the short trip to Grace Road to take on Leicestershire. The other match sees rock bottom Nottinghamshire heading north to face a Durham who probably have to win if they are going to make the last eight.
South Group
Surrey lead the way in the South Group and they will book a quarter final spot if they can win the heavyweight clash with the defending champions Somerset at Taunton. Sussex will also be looking to take a huge leap towards the quarter finals when they head to Canterbury to take on bottom of the pile Kent. Gloucestershire are teetering on the fringes of the top four and they will look to enhance their claims for a spot in the knockout stages when they make the trip to Southampton to take on a Hampshire side who are out of contention now. The other match in the South Group on Friday sees Glamorgan hosting Middlesex.
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TV Match Betting
There were seven runs between these two when they met in the reverse meeting at Headingley earlier in the competition but on that occasion Yorkshire had Joe Root in their ranks and he isn’t around for this match. On the flip side of that, Lancashire get Phil Salt back from the T20 World Cup for this one and I think those changes could be the difference in swinging things enough for Lancashire to win this match. They are very tough to beat at home in this competition, barely suffering a defeat at Old Trafford in the last four years and with their match being washed out on Thursday night whereas Yorkshire had to compete against Durham, a fresher, better Lancashire side look good things even at 8/11 in this one.
Since that game Donovan Ferreira has caught fire for Yorkshire. He smashed 114* in a second XI game between these two last week and since then has added 66 and 44 before finishing 12 not out against Durham on Thursday. Ferreira is a big hitter who should enjoy the conditions at Old Trafford and if Yorkshire suffer a loss or two early in their innings then the South African should get plenty of time to get through and top score. He might not need it though because that 114 came off just 51 balls last week which shows the speedy scoring potential that he has. At 8/1 I think he is overpriced to top score in this high pressure game.
Other Match Betting
There is one other bet that I like on Friday evening and that comes from Grace Road where I think a fresher Northamptonshire side can see off a Leicestershire side who are just beginning to creek at the edges and whose bowling attack is suddenly conceding a lot of runs. As a result of that they have lost their last two and could easily have lost the two before that which ended in a tie and a no result. In the tie they were chasing over 200 against Northants and the washout it looked like Nottinghamshire were going to eclipse the 200 run mark too.
Northamptonshire have had a few days off since their win over Durham to hone their skills and ensure that they are best prepared for what is a big week for them as they look to make it into the quarter finals. They are starting to bowl better, as you would expect with the one day wickets starting to tire and their spinners coming to the boil, and they bat deep enough that if they do get involved in a shootout they can give that a good go. Regular readers will know I’m no fan of being with the team who played the day before, which was Leicestershire in this case. I’ll take Northants in this one.
Tips
Back Lancashire to beat Yorkshire for a 3/10 stake at 1.73 with William Hill
Back them here:
Back D.Ferreira Top Yorkshire Batter for a 1/10 stake at 9.00 with Boylesports
Back him here:
Back Northamptonshire to beat Leicestershire for a 3/10 stake at 1.82 with Unibet
