The Vitality Blast returns on Friday night after a couple of weeks away for the latest action in the County Championship and it does so with seven matches taking place across the two groups as things begin to get serious from here on in.
There are some TV matches to come over the course of the next week but the women’s T20 international has the TV attention on Friday evening so if you want to follow any bets you have you need to load up the live stream offered by the home county.
North Group
We have a battle of the top two in the group getting us restarted in the North Group on Friday evening when Northamptonshire will look to open up an eight point lead over their closest challengers Lancashire but the Lightning know that if they win they will end the night on top of the pile. Durham start the night in third place in the North Group table and they welcome Nottinghamshire to the Riverside. The Outlaws finally found a groove in the lead up to the break and will hope to pick up where they left off. Leicestershire are the other team in the top four and they welcome the Bears to Grace Road while two sides who need exceptionally good ends to the group stage meet at Headingley as Yorkshire welcome Worcestershire for a huge game.
South Group
There are three matches in the South Group on Friday night with the leaders Somerset in action. They welcome Glamorgan to Taunton looking to begin to ramp home their hopes of not just making the quarter final of the competition but to host that clash. Third and fourth meet at Canterbury where Kent and Sussex will battle it out in what is a key game for both teams with the bottom two teams also facing off at Chelmsford when Essex, who are still winless after eight matches and already out of contention for the quarter finals, host a Gloucestershire side who are going to need to find a minimum of five wins from their last seven if their title defence is to reach the knockout stages.
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Betting
There are three bets that I like over the course of the evening with the first of them coming at Wantage Road where the even money on Lancashire to hit the most sixes against Northamptonshire looks a big price. This is a Northants side who will be without their opening batter Matthew Breetzke who is in Zimbabwe on international duty and while Tim Robinson is an able replacement he hasn’t really hit the ground running yet. The big reason for taking Lancashire in this market though is they have Phil Salt and Jos Buttler back for this match and those two on their own could take the sixes market away from the Steelbacks. Lancashire have a couple of bowlers who are hard to get away too and that becomes three or four if the pitch starts to turn. If Lancashire successfully negotiate the new ball they could produce some real carnage. Lancashire lost the reverse meeting between the two but still won the sixes battle 8-6 without Salt and Buttler. Add them into the mix and that evens looks a solid punt.
Moving north of Northamptonshire, the 7/2 on Adam Hose to top score for Worcestershire against Yorkshire. He is a country mile clear in the Worcestershire run charts for this season and warmed up for the return of the Blast by clobbering 266 off just 253 balls in the Championship against Hampshire. Hose made 54 in the reverse meeting against Yorkshire so we know that he can handle this bowling attack and having played for the Northern Superchargers for the last couple of seasons he will know how the pitch plays and the parts of the ground to target. The Worcestershire batting order is a little all frills and no spills for my liking but Hose is experienced enough to get in and then go big and the 7/2 he top scores here is too big.
Finally we go down to the South Group where I like the sixes to flow when Essex take on Gloucestershire at Chelmsford. Sixes generally flow here but with Essex having nothing to lose and no competitive pressure on them they could finally catch fire and if they get hold of this Gloucestershire batting unit then they could do some damage. Gloucestershire are a pretty aggressive batting unit themselves and some key batters got some runs in the Championship in midweek to boost their confidence. You can get even money on over 13.5 sixes here which when you consider there were 17 of them the last time the two teams met here, looks perfectly acceptable.
Tips
Back Lancashire Most 6s vs Northants for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Coral
Back A.Hose Top Worcestershire Batter vs Yorkshire for a 2/10 stake at 4.50 with Bet365
Back Essex vs Gloucestershire – Over 13.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Betfair
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