The Vitality Blast group stage comes to a close on Friday night when the last eight matches take place across the two groups. That all means that by the end of the evening we will know the four matchups in the quarter finals.
With it being the final night of the group stage we have a TV match to enjoy and as always the other seven games will be shown on their own live stream provided by the home county. All the matches begin at the same time too.
North Group
The TV game comes from the North Group on Friday evening and when it was selected it looked as though it might be a big match but results since then have largely rendered it a dead rubber when Nottinghamshire host Lancashire at Trent Bridge. The big match in this group on Friday night comes from the Riverside where third host second when Durham take on Northamptonshire with a home quarter final on the line. The winners get it while the losers will be on their travels in the last eight. It is a key night for the Bears too. If they win away to Derbyshire then they will claim a quarter final spot but were they to lose then Leicestershire would have the chance to snatch it should they overcome Yorkshire.
South Group
Three of the four spots in the quarter finals are filled from the South Group barring something unforeseen so it is between Sussex and Kent for the final place. Sussex have the hardest match on paper as they host Surrey at Hove while Kent welcome rivals Essex to Chelmsford. There is another local derby on the card on Friday night when the champions Gloucestershire end their title defence with a trip to Taunton to take on Somerset. The other match sees a Glamorgan side, who could yet qualify for the quarter finals if Sussex and Kent both lose, hosting Middlesex in what could turn out to be a vital match at Cardiff.
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TV Match Betting
With the TV game being a dead rubber now I’m not that keen to get involved in too much. Both Nottinghamshire and Lancashire played on Thursday night so there isn’t an advantage there for us to exploit and no lines are massively appealing so I am largely going to keep my powder dry but there is a bet where I can’t avoid the price on offer and that comes in the form of the top Nottinghamshire batter market where I like a 12/1 shot.
That is Matthew Montgomery. We saw on Thursday night that Lancashire have the new ball firepower to get the middle order in early but the bowling levels off quite quickly once the change bowlers come on. I noticed on Thursday evening that Montgomery bats at five and with Nottinghamshire pretty much out of this competition now he might go up to four for a bigger innings ahead of the One Day Cup. He was second top scorer on Friday evening and I’ll pay to see if he goes one better here.
Other Match Betting
There are two other bets which catch my eye on Friday evening. I am very surprised that Leicestershire are the outsiders for their match against Yorkshire. Yorkshire are out of the competition and we saw on Thursday evening that they are a little all or nothing for my liking. Leicestershire are very much playing for something and they have Ian Holland back from Major League Cricket to bolster their bowling unit. If Leicestershire can make an inroad or two with the new ball then the Yorkshire batting actually runs out quite quickly. Yorkshire have to back up a fairly late finish and then get on their travels to play the next day which is never an easy task and if the pitch doesn’t turn at Grace Road then there would be a cannon fodder look to their attack. With motivation and freshness very much on the home side here my money is in that direction too.
The other bet comes at Canterbury where the 39.5 boundaries line looks low. Kent know that they need to win to make it into the quarter final but there is a situation where they need a big win so they could quickly adopt an everything has to go attitude with the bat. They could have Daniel Bell-Drummond back which will help with that quest. Essex aren’t playing for anything and they are happy to be aggressive with the bat but we saw on Thursday night that they are resting key bowlers and blooding a couple of youngsters ahead of the One Day Cup so their attack could easily go round the park again. There were 44 boundaries when Kent played Middlesex in the last game here and the first innings score there was only 160 so there is scope for lots of boundaries here.
Tips
Back M.Montgomery Top Nottinghamshire Batter for a 1/10 stake at 13.00 with Boylesports
Back him here:
Back Leicestershire to beat Yorkshire for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with William Hill
Back them here:
Back Kent vs Essex – Over 39.5 boundaries for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
