The Vitality Blast continues on Friday night where we have our first full fixture list of the campaign on an evening where some counties play their second match in successive days and others get their competition underway.
We also have our first TV game of the competition as well as the champions Somerset begin their title defence in front of the cameras. All of the other matches will be shown live and in full on the streams provided by the home county.
North Group
Two sides who got their campaign underway on Thursday evening continue their season on Friday when Worcestershire welcome Lancashire to New Road. Worcestershire were thumped in their first game while Lancashire did a good job on Durham so it will be interesting to see if that form holds up. Durham will be looking to bounce back from their mauling at the hands of Lancashire when they host the Birmingham Bears while the strongly fancied Nottinghamshire get their competition underway when they face a Northamptonshire side who won their opening game. The other match sees Yorkshire, emphatic winners of their first game, travelling to Grace Road to take on a Leicestershire outfit who make their bow for the campaign on Friday.
South Group
The TV action comes from the South Group on Friday evening when Somerset get their title defence underway in a repeat of the final from last year when they host an Essex side who have already been well beaten by Gloucestershire on Thursday evening. Surrey were the other winners in the South Group on Thursday and they will look to start out with a second win in as many evenings when they head to Cardiff to take on Glamorgan. Gloucestershire will also look to make it two wins from two when they go to Hove to face Sussex while Middlesex play host to Kent in the other game although that takes place at Chelmsford rather than anywhere in the Middlesex border.
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TV Match Betting
I’ll go with a couple in the TV game on Friday with the first of them being on Somerset to go beyond 52.5 runs in their batting powerplay. Gloucestershire lost a wicket in the first over of their innings against Essex on Thursday evening but still managed to post 64 at the end of the six overs even though they were only chasing seven an over from the outset of their innings. One reason for that is the absence with the new ball of Sam Cook and he isn’t going to be involved in this one. Somerset are power packed at the top of the innings with their top three aggressive boundary hitters who go after the bowling. We know Taunton is a pretty small ground and with Essex without front line bowlers outside of Daniel Sams I think this is a line which gets covered comfortably enough.
The other bet that I like is for Paul Walter to be the leading run scorer for Essex in this match. He was the second highest scorer at Bristol on Thursday evening with 43 from 31 balls and is turning himself into a valuable T20 batter having done the franchise scene over the course of the winter. I like him here because Roelof van der Merwe will be turning the ball into his pads which on this ground could cause carnage. We know he is a big hitter of seam bowling and this ground certainly won’t be enough to contain him. He made 50 against Somerset last season and feels like a big price to top score here.
Other Match Betting
I’ll go with a couple of other bets over the course of the evening. I was done up expecting a high scoring match involving Yorkshire on Thursday evening but that Worcestershire batting order was a thing of huge mystery and I’m far from convinced that the Yorkshire bowling unit is anything like it was made to look in that match. I don’t think the Leicestershire one is much better either so this looks like being a match where the batters will have their chance to shine. Grace Road has been a road in the Championship this season with there being seven scores of 370 or more in the 12 innings that have been played out. The run line looks low at 329.5 here so I’ll play the over.
The other bet I like comes in the match at Chelmsford where Middlesex take on Kent in another game that I expect to be high scoring and where it might be that the boundary line of 43.5 has been priced up as if this one was at Lord’s rather than Chelmsford. We know that this is a small ground and with Middlesex sharing with Essex I can’t believe that matches are going to be in the middle of the square but even if they are then this is a ground where the boundaries are attainable. Kent are usually aggressive with the bat under Sam Billings and we saw Middlesex go after the batting last season. With the odd exception, there isn’t a great deal in either bowling attack so I am expecting the boundaries to flow in this one.
Tips
Back Somerset First 6 overs – Over 52.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.85 with William Hill
Back them here:
Back P.Walter Top Essex Batter for a 1/10 stake at 9.50 with Bet365
Back Leicestershire vs Yorkshire – Over 329.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
Back Middlesex vs Kent – Over 43.5 boundaries for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with Bet365
