The Vitality Blast continues on Saturday with a double header at Edgbaston as four North Group sides are in action on what is set to be a decent day both with regards to the weather and hopefully the quality on the field.
Both of these matches are live on the TV for us in the UK to enjoy so ahead of the World Cup getting underway later in the night there is no reason to not sit back and get stuck into seven hours of T20 cricket.
Derbyshire vs Leicestershire (14.30 – Sky Sports Cricket)
Derbyshire are the side who are giving up a home game to be a part of what should be a high profile double header of action on Saturday afternoon when they take on a Leicestershire side for whom winning this title became a regular thing back in the day.
That is something that Derbyshire have never done and they haven’t started this season off too strongly either with a fairly comfortably defeat to Northamptonshire in their opening match on Thursday. Leicestershire got their campaign off to an emphatic start on Friday evening when they walloped a timid Yorkshire side and if they back that up with another win here they will be off and running in the competition that we know they target the most. I’m still working out what I make of Derbyshire. My hunch is they will come good because they have signed some good T20 players, albeit maybe ones who are past their best. I really liked the look of Leicestershire on Friday night and while I’m reluctant to back them to win here because as I repeatedly say backing up a game barely 16 hours later is so difficult to do, where I am happy to bet them is in their powerplay score where I believe they can pass 50.5 runs. We saw against Yorkshire that Leicestershire are clearly setting their stall out to go big at the top of the innings. They are using Peter Handscomb as the glue to the innings at three and everyone around him has the licence to come out and score big. I didn’t see anything in this Derbyshire attack that would stop Leicestershire having their own way with them at the top of the innings, especially when you consider that there is so much cricket at Edgbaston these days that domestic games rarely take place in the middle of the square. Sol Budinger got after the Yorkshire attack on Friday night and if he and Rishi Patel catch fire again I don’t see Derbyshire restricting the Foxes to 50 or less in the first six overs.
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Birmingham Bears vs Nottinghamshire (18.30 – Sky Sports Cricket)
The second match of the day sees the Birmingham Bears playing their first home game of the season when they host a Nottinghamshire side who were fancied by the bookmakers leading into the campaign but who got off to an atrocious start to their tournament.
Both these sides opened up their campaign on Friday evening and they did it in completely opposite fashion. Nottinghamshire were beaten with almost seven overs to go at Trent Bridge by Northamptonshire while Birmingham won very comfortably up at Durham to fire their season into life and they will be looking to double their tally here. I’m not completely hooked up on Birmingham this season. I think they are a batter light while Moeen Ali is away but I like them more than I do Nottinghamshire who look two or three genuine batters light and are a young side. Their bowling attack was shown up against Northamptonshire and I have that as the strongest part of their side. Where their bowling does concern me is so often their slow bowlers such as Samit Patel, Steven Mullaney and Matthew Carter have clawed innings back and none of the three are around anymore. Calvin Harrison is having a good season but he can’t do it all on his own and if the top three don’t fire for Nottinghamshire I’m not convinced they can win many matches. Birmingham have a decent top six without Moeen even if they run out of batting at six or seven rather than the idealism of it being at eight and nine. They also have a very strong bowling unit with Richard Gleeson fit and three solid spin options. I like the look of the Bears so much more than I do Nottinghamshire right now and I’m a little surprised that they are not solid favourites for this one. I’ll play them to win a second game in a row.
Tips
Back Leicestershire First 6 Overs – Over 50.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with William Hill
Back them here:
Back Birmingham Bears to beat Nottinghamshire for a 3/10 stake at 1.95 with Betway
