The opening night of the new Vitality Blast season begins with two matches on Thursday evening as both groups get underway with one fixture taking place in each as the domestic T20 competition starts the white ball county campaign.
The ODI and IPL have the TV treatment on Thursday evening so if you have a bet on either match and aren’t attending it then you’ll need to fire up the live stream from the respective game in order to follow it all.
Middlesex vs Sussex (18.15)
The opening match in the competition takes us to Lord’s for the South Group clash between a Middlesex side who routinely disappoint in this competition and a Sussex outfit looking to build on their run to the semi-final last term.
All eyes will be on the famous ground here as Kane Williamson graces it with his presence and it will be interesting to see if his class brings a turnaround in fortunes for Middlesex. They will need him to go well here because Max Holden was a late call up to the England Lions squad so a huge part of their batting will be missing for a couple of weeks. Sussex look like they have the sort of squad which is going to be with them throughout the competition and ordinarily I’d probably be all over them here even at a skinny price but I’ll just take a watching brief on Middlesex here to see the impact that Williamson is having on this side before I commit to siding with the Seaxes or take them on again.
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Lancashire vs Worcestershire (18.30)
The North Group opener on Thursday takes us to Old Trafford where all eyes will be on Lancashire who are having a torrid time of things in the red ball competition. Worcestershire haven’t fared much better in the Championship so these are two sides who are looking to ignite their season here.
The captain and the coach have already paid the price for the dismal start to the season for Lancashire and they could be up against it here too with half a dozen players missing to either England, England Lions or the IPL. They might well have expected Phil Salt and Liam Livingstone to be back by now but the delay to the IPL may have thrown plans out of the window. This has to be a low in confidence Lancashire side, although the exit of Dale Benkenstein as coach might make an impact. Worcestershire will probably be in the better frame of mind of the two sides. They will have known that their Championship campaign was going to be tough but they look well balanced in this format of the game and the two overseas recruits of Ben Dwarshuis and Jacob Duffy certainly pep up a bowling unit that lacked penetration last term. If their exciting batters can come to the party I fancy Worcestershire to cause the upset against a Lancashire side who have plenty to prove despite their good record in T20 cricket at Old Trafford.
Tips
Back Worcestershire to beat Lancashire for a 3/10 stake at 2.25 with Betfred
