We are heading into supposedly the heart of the cricketing season which means that it is time to put the red ball away in county cricket and get the white one out as another campaign of the Vitality Blast begins on Thursday.
Somerset were victorious at finals day at Edgbaston last season and they will be out to be ones to snap the curse of the defending champion with no title winner having ever made a successful defence of this crown.
Recent Winners
2023 – Somerset
2022 – Hampshire
2021 – Kent
2020 – Nottinghamshire
2019 – Essex
2018 – Worcestershire
2017 – Nottinghamshire
2016 – Northamptonshire
2015 – Lancashire
2014 – Birmingham Bears
The Format
We are using what is now the normal format for this competition. That means we have the two groups – North and South – with each team playing the other eight in their group once and then six of the teams once more giving 14 group matches per county. The top four from each group at the end of the first phase will go into the quarter finals where we have N1 vs S4 N2 vs S3 S2 vs N3 S1 vs N4. The winners of those quarter finals will head to Finals Day which once again is at Edgbaston on September 14.
North Group
It was a terrible year for the North Group in 2023 with not one of the four sides in the quarter finals progressing to finals day and you wonder what will come out of this section this time around. The big names in this group are hampered in the initial stages by the T20 World Cup which will keep the stragglers happy. Birmingham Bears dominated this group last year and will see a lot more of Chris Woakes but even less of Moeen Ali while Lancashire have been decimated by players in the England squad for the World Cup.
Nottinghamshire are the favourites to win the North Group but they are going to be without Ben Duckett for the early part of the competition. Shaheen Shah Afridi isn’t back at Trent Bridge either which is a concern. Worcestershire have been one of the better sides in the North Group in recent times but they could be impacted by the weather and even if they are not Usama Mir, one of their stars of last season has been refused permission to feature by Pakistan. Yorkshire will be boosted by the availability of Joe Root for the first half of the campaign while Northamptonshire, Durham and Derbyshire have all recruited plenty of T20 experience. Leicestershire always target this competition and can never be written off.
South Group
The four teams at finals day came from the South Group last year and it doesn’t look a great deal weaker this time around either. Somerset will be looking to make a successful defence of the title and while they won’t have Matt Henry around they have recruited well in Riley Meredith if he stays fit. The rest of their squad looks to be untouched so they look in a good position to launch a strong title defence. Surrey will always be the favourites to win this competition given their red ball form but they’ll be missing a stack of England players at various times but Sean Abbott and Spencer Johnson are strong overseas players.
Essex were the beaten finalists a year ago and having Daniel Sams back in their midst for the season certainly does them no harm while Jordan Cox is a brilliant T20 addition. An injury to Sam Cook on the eve of the tournament is a concern. Hampshire were beaten by Essex in the last four last term but were the winners in 2022 and have been to the last three finals days. They can’t be ruled out, especially as they have incredibly avoided World Cup call ups. They have lost Nathan Ellis but Michael Neser and Ottniel Baartman are good replacements. They should launch another strong challenge. Kent are always competitive in this competition and having Sam Billings around for the campaign should help but Sussex, Glamorgan, Gloucestershire and Middlesex will need to do a lot of improving to be competitive.
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Outright Betting
I never think you can look too far from Hampshire in this competition. They usually start slow but still come on strong and with John Turner a year further down in his progression and seemingly not on the England radar and Liam Dawson not heading off on international duty either this is going to be a settled Hampshire squad. Hampshire probably would have made the final last year had the rain not arrived when it did in the semi-final but this is a team who have been together for a while. They have one of the best opening partnerships in the competition and a bowling attack which performs well under pressure. With little disruption throughout the tournament I think Hampshire are primed for another strong challenge at a fourth title.
The North Group always looks wide open and it might pay to take a chance on Durham having a strong season. To be fair to them they have not got on with this competition at all. They have only been out of the group stage once since they made their only final in 2016 but they have added some good players for this campaign with Colin Ackermann always a solid performer and Callum Parkinson one of the better spinners in the country to work in tandem with the criminally underrated Nathan Sowter. Ashton Turner and Ben Dwarshuis are good overseas players and a middle order of Ackermann, Ollie Robinson, Graham Clark and Turner looks strong. I would be amazed if there isn’t a huge improvement in Durham.
Group Betting
I can’t ignore the 12/1 on Durham to win the North Group either, especially with a little bit of each way terms. I think the market could have this group all wrong. Birmingham don’t look anything like as strong as they did last season while Lancashire are going to be without their England players for too much of the campaign and Worcestershire have been hit by the sudden absence of Usama Mir. Yorkshire should be more competitive with Joe Root for the first half of the campaign but their bowling looks too much of a work in progress to me.
There could be some improvement from the likes of Northamptonshire with Ravi Bopara, Matthew Breetzke and George Scrimshaw in their ranks and having David Willey for the entire campaign will help but I still think Durham are the big improvers in this group. I like the Ben Dwarshuis signing and that middle order looks like it has a lot more runs in it this season as opposed to last year where bowling all-rounders came in far too early. At 12/1 I’ll pay to see just how well they do here.
Tips
Back Hampshire to win Vitality Blast (e/w) for a 2/10 stake at 12.00 with William Hill (1/2 1-2)
Back Durham to win Vitality Blast (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 26.00 with William Hill (1/2 1-2)
Back them here:
Back Durham to win North Group (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 13.00 with Bet365 (1/3 1-2)
