The final round of matches in the first half of the Vitality County Championship season get underway on Friday as we head towards the beginning of the T20 Blast next week. We reach the halfway mark of the four-day campaign with both tables beginning to take shape.
We are nowhere near the days where we get another Championship match on the TV so those who have a bet or just want to follow any of these matches in visual form will need to load up the streams offered up by the home county.
Division One
Surrey are already blazing a bit of a trail at the top of Division One and they reach the halfway point of their title defence with a trip to the Utilita Bowl in Southampton to take on a Hampshire side looking to build on their first win of the season last week. Somerset have moved into second place in the table and they will embark on the long journey away to Durham on Friday. Essex came from the clouds to beat Warwickshire last week and they’ll look to back that up at Canterbury when they meet rivals Kent. Warwickshire will be looking to bounce back from that loss when they take on rock bottom Lancashire at Old Trafford while the other match takes place at Grace Road where Worcestershire host Nottinghamshire.
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Division Two
It could be a pivotal week in Division Two this week as we hit the halfway mark for the season with the top two battling it out at Lord’s where second placed Middlesex host the leaders Sussex in comfortably the match of the round in the second tier. Leicestershire will be keeping a close eye on events in the capital as they sit in third spot ahead of hosting Glamorgan and could move into the top two if results go their way. Gloucestershire have come from nowhere to suddenly sit in fourth spot and they will hope to improve their position when they host winless Derbyshire who head to Bristol bottom of the table. Northamptonshire and Yorkshire will look for their first wins of the season when they meet at Wantage Road.
Betting
I’m a little surprised that Glamorgan are even money to get the win at Leicestershire because I sense the Welsh outfit will go from strength to strength now that Marnus Labuschagne is fully up and running and Mir Hamza is back in position for this match. Glamorgan have a very strong batting unit and they go up against a Leicestershire side who have conceded 694/9d, 453/7d, 407/8 and 706/6d already this season. This is not a Foxes outfit equipped for 20 wickets.
I would therefore expect Glamorgan to get stuck into this Leicestershire attack and while Leicestershire are batting well, helped by Grace Road being exactly that, a road, if Glamorgan can get into them early in the first innings and put them under pressure then they could get some joy. If we do get four dry days then Mason Crane might come into his own later in the game too and in short I just think Glamorgan are stronger in more areas than Leicestershire. Given how Leicestershire are conceding big scores we might be getting even money that Glamorgan can bowl their hosts out twice. I’ll pay to see if they can.
Tips
Back Glamorgan to beat Leicestershire for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Boylesports
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