Wednesday –Thursday 19th-20th July
Matches as follows, all prices are from green listed bookmaker William Hill.
Wednesday
5.30pm Worcestershire v Derbyshire
Worcestershire have had a poor start to this year’s competition, losing their first two games. Fortunately in a 14 games a side group stage there is plenty of time to recover. With both matches at home the batting line up has failed to fire so far, and teams won’t win many games in this format trying to defend scores of 148 and 152.
Derbyshire are traditionally seen as one of the also-rans in the T20 with little pedigree of making the finals day in the competition. However they started off with two wins in their first game, winning at holders Northants chasing 179 for the loss of only three wickets and then just overhauling Yorkshire’s total of 162 to win by two wickets. In their most recent match they were comfortably beaten by Lancashire. Their two overseas pros signed this season for the competition, Viljoen and Tahir from South Africa show an ambition not previously shown by the county.
Prices for this game are Worcestershire 10/11 and Derbyshire a shade over evens. On form you would have to go for the underdog but Worcestershire should kick into gear soon and I will be giving them another chance at 10/11.
6.30pm Surrey v Essex
This is the reverse fixture from the opening round of games in the South Group where Surrey won in Chelmsford by 2 runs, just defending 188 when looking unlikely to do so with two overs left.
Since then things haven’t gone to plan for both sides. Surrey lost both their games last weekend at Middlesex and then at home to Kent who chased down 207 comfortably. Surrey have Kevin Pietersen in the side for the remainder of the group games, and Sangakkara, Batty and Fakes fit again so really should be challenging at the latter end of the group with a very high powered line up.
Essex have won one of their next three games, losing to Kent and Glamorgan and beating Somerset. The loss to Glamorgan at Chelmsford was concerning. Posting 219 they were strong favourites to win but Glamorgan chased down the large total for the loss of only five wickets. Considering Essex’s bowling line up includes Mohammed Amir and Simon Harmer this was rated a big surprise
So here we have two high profile big names teams who are underperforming. Either can fire in a single game. Surrey are priced 4/6,Essex 5/4. Essex at 5/4 is the value.
Thursday
5.30pm Middlesex v Kent
Middlesex have one win and a tie from their four games. A side containing the firepower of McCullum, Stirling, Malan and Morgan at the top of the order would have hoped for a stronger start to the competition than that.
Kent were in better shape with two wins from three games including beating Essex and Surrey, in the latter game chasing down over 200 and comfortably so. Kent’s strength is very obviously their batting with big hitting options across the order. The bowling routinely leaves the batting big tasks though, which makes them an often questionable betting proposition.
Then Kent failed to chase 138 at Canterbury, losing to Gloucestershire by 8 runs on Tuesday night in another surprise result. What are we to make of that? Tat anything can happen in a single game in cricket’s shortest format!
Odds for this game are Middlesex 4/5 Kent Evens. Not the easiest two teams to predict and I will go for Kent as underdogs, representing marginal value.
6.30pm Durham v Leicestershire
Leicestershire have been the surprise package of the early stages of this year’s competition, winning their opening three games in the North Group. The win over Worcestershire was unexpected, beating Lancashire even more so and then defending only 149 to beat Warwickshire completed the hat-trick of underdog wins. Their overseas/Kolpak players Ronchi, Delport, Ackerman and McKay have led the way with only mixed performances from the domestic players. Unless this changes the results might be unsustainable.
Durham began the competition with a points deduction and therefore with minimal chances of making finals today. Often a strong T20 side, albeit without the bugdet to secure big name overseas stars, results this year have been poor with two opening losses, and convincing losses, to Lancashire and Northants
Home advantage aside as in this game, the competition is going to be a struggle this season. This is reflected in odds for this game, Durham 13/8, Leicestershire 4/6. Durham 13/8 would normally be very tempting at home but a watching brief for me here
7pm Hampshire v Sussex
This is the reverse fixture of a match last week when Hampshire beat Sussex at Hove, defending a score of 188-3 and winning by 19 runs. Hampshire sit top of the South group with three wins out of three games and clearly have a strong line up for this competition. They bat deep, and in Kolpak players Roussouw and Abbott can effectively play four overseas pros alongside Bailey and Afridi.
Sussex have two losses and a no result from their three games to date. In their two completed games they have conceded 198 and 188 and not chased either high total. This is a slight surprise as the line up contains experienced T20 international players like Wright, Wiese, Jordan and Taylor but the side probably lacks depth in its bowling attack
Hampshire are short priced favourites here 4/7 with Sussex 5/4. 4/7 is really too tight a price for any side, no matter form or recent results, in this very open competition, so again a watching brief.
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