The Vitality Blast continues on Saturday when three matches take place in the afternoon and into the evening on a day where we could see some significant moves in behind the table toppers of both of the groups.
The World Test Championship final still gets the daytime TV attention but that will be finished early enough for us to have a TV game to get our teeth into. The other two matches come in a double header on the same ground and will have a live stream on offer from the home county.
Derbyshire vs Leicestershire (15.00)
The first of the two matches in the North Group double header on Saturday sees rock bottom Derbyshire taking on their local rivals Leicestershire with the match moved to Edgbaston as part of a 20 over extravaganza.
Derbyshire got off the match for the season on Friday night when they took care of Nottinghamshire but regular readers will know that I hate backing sides who have to back up a performance the night before, and I particularly hate backing teams who have the play the afternoon after the night before. We see it all the time that the team who the schedule goes against can be flat as a pancake. The thing here is we probably don’t need Derbyshire to be flat because Leicestershire are the better of the two teams. They have already beaten Derbyshire in this campaign and have Rehan Ahmed back for this match too. I’ve been sweet on the Leicestershire chances throughout the season so far and given the scheduling issues that Derbyshire have had, a much fresher and better Leicestershire side should be backed at a fair price of 8/11 here.
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Glamorgan vs Sussex (18.30 – Sky Cricket)
The TV match on Saturday is the second game to get underway when the cameras move from Bristol on Friday evening to Cardiff for the South Group match between a competitive Glamorgan side and a potentially title challenging Sussex outfit.
These two sides both have three wins from their five matches with Sussex ahead of Glamorgan courtesy of the washout they endured against Essex on Friday night. These two met last weekend where Sussex blew Glamorgan out of the park and there hasn’t been any changes in the Glamorgan squad to suggest that it will be different here, unless Imad Wasim has received clearance to feature. Sussex do have to back up their match on Friday night but the fact it was curtailed three overs into the second innings and they were at home would offer belief they can do that. I think Sussex will win this match but I’m on them outright so I can sit and watch and cheer them on through that. The boundary line interests me here though. It is 43.5 which feels a little high when Sussex have already skittled Glamorgan this season. This is a ground where the square boundaries are very big and both sides have seamers capable of bowling back of a length to cope with that. There is no shortage of spin on show here either which could be tricky to face after a hot day and both batting units are very top heavy so early wickets will slow the progress down. Sussex hit 195/4 against Glamorgan at Hove last week which had 24 boundaries where it is nowhere near as big square so if they fail to reach that number then this line just looks a fraction high.
Bears vs Nottinghamshire (19.00)
The other game on the day on Saturday is the second leg of the Edgbaston double header where the Bears will look to follow up on their win against Yorkshire on Friday evening when they host a Nottinghamshire side who have just two wins from six and need to start to make a move soon.
The Bears have three wins and three defeats but they are 3-1 since the opening weekend of the campaign with the catalyst of that form coming in the return of players like Dan Mousley, Moeen Ali and the arrival of Hassan Ali. Since that happened their only defeat was against Northamptonshire in a match they were on top in for long periods before the Steelbacks held their nerve. It has been a different story for Nottinghamshire. They beat a light Bears attack in their opening game of the season but have only won one match since then, which was against rock bottom Derbyshire, and if they don’t buck the trend here then their season could be over before we get into the second half of it. I have said it a few times in this campaign but I just don’t like this Nottinghamshire attack at all and I have to be on the Bears here. This will be overs 41-80 on this pitch over the course of a warm day so you have to think there will be plenty of turn on offer by the time this one takes place and the Bears could genuinely send down 16 overs of spin if they want to, quality spin too with all four spinners having England caps. Nottinghamshire are a batter light to me and their attack has been cannon fodder far too often so I like the Bears to win this and have a bit of a margin in hand when the final ball has been bowled.
Tips
Back Leicestershire to beat Derbyshire for a 3/10 stake at 1.73 with William Hill
Back them here:
Back Glamorgan vs Sussex – Under 43.5 boundaries for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Bet365
Back Bears (-3.5wickets/7.5runs) to beat Nottinghamshire for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Bet365
