This weekend we have another feast of T20 Cricket with the T20 Blast with plenty of games from the North and the South groups with the majority of games being played on the Friday with another game on Saturday and Sunday, as was stressed by the ECB at the seasons start.
With 10 games over the 3 days it's time for me to have a look at each match giving my thoughts on how the teams are going and who will win each game.
Friday 6th June:
Leicestershire Vs Worcestershire - Worcestershire's start to the season has been a pretty good one with wins against sides that went very well last year like Nottinghamshire and Northamptonshire and they did have a decent start last year. One of their key men this year is certainly Saeed Ajmal as an experienced Pakistan international spinner will always do a nice job of restricting in the middle overs while Moeen Ali is certainly going to be their key batsman again here. With one win from three games so far Leicestershire have been a lot poorer and generally look a poorer team on paper with a shaky bowling line-up that has really little for batsmen to fear.
Prediction: Has to be a Worcestershire win for my money here.
Kent Vs Middlesex - Kent have had a better start to this T20 season than in the last couple of seasons winning 2 of their first 3 games with the only loss being tonight to a strong Hampshire side. Meanwhile Middlesex have had a terrible start losing all 5 of their games so far this season. Kent's team looks like a blend of youth and experience which has been a feature for them in the last few years due to financial problems, the likes of Sam Northeast and Daniel Bell-Drummond should have more experience by now and with guys like Darren Stevens, Rob Key and James Tredwell around them they do have a good side though they don't bat quite as deep as others. Middlesex do have a really good team with the likes of Steven Finn, Toby Roland-Jones, Dawid Malan, Paul Stirling and Joe Denly some of the stand out guys and it's hard to explain why they've struggled so badly and I'm sure things will pick up for them.
Prediction: This one looks a really close match but I think Kent just have a little more momentum.
Lancashire Vs Yorkshire - The Roses T20 matches always produce good fireworks and these 2 teams will be right at the top of the North group with the squads that they have and the starts that they have. It will be a very tight game between 2 sides with good batting and bowling line-ups. Yorkshire can boast the signing of Aaron Finch whilst also having Jonny Bairstow and experienced guys like Andrew Gale and Alex Lees. Meanwhile their bowling also looks very strong with Jack Brooks, in form Liam Plunkett and Adil Rashid and as an all-round unit they look pretty solid. As for Lancashire they have a great bowling line-up with Parry the spinner joined by Pakistan's Junaid Khan and Kabir Ali. Batting wise though they do look a touch weaker and that could be the difference in this game
Prediction: A tight win for Yorkshire.
Somerset Vs Glamorgan - Both of these 2 sides have had pretty similar starts to the season and there's little to chose there and it should be a decent game at Taunton on Friday. Glamorgan have a decent little unit without too many stand out players though the recent signing of Darren Sammy will add some nice international experience and they should do well against the other smaller sides but not as well against some of the South group powerhouses. As always Somerset have a brilliant squad with the likes of Trescothick, Trego, Kieswetter and Hildreth in the batting line-up while their bowling line-up has experienced T20 bowlers like Nannes and Alfonso Thomas. For me they just have a slightly stronger all-round team here.
Prediction: Should be a Somerset win.
Warwickshire Vs Durham - Once again here these 2 sides have had similar starts with Warwickshire winning 1 of their first 3 which included a no result while Durham have won 2 of their first 3 games and their squads look pretty equal also. Warwickshire's strength certainly looks to be bowling with the likes of Chris Wright, Boyd Rankin, Keith Barker, Chris Woakes and Jeetan Patel in the squad allowing them to restrict sides to quite low totals you'd imagine. They also have Williams Porterfield and Varun Chopra at the top of the order to get them off to good starts in the early overs so they look a decent all-round unit. Durham also look to have a nice all-round team with Phil Mustard and Mark Stoneman to get them off to quick starts at the top with Ben Stokes and Paul Collingwood in support, while their bowling looks slightly weaker they do still have Gareth Breese and Chris Rushworth who bowled very well against Notts. However, I don't know if they quite have enough strength in depth to beat Warwickshire.
Prediction: Warwichshire just look to be a touch stronger but it should be close on the day.
Surrey Vs Essex - Both of these 2 sides have won 2 of their first 3 games in this years T20 Blast and they look fairly evenly matched so this should be a close encounter. With a team including Hashim Amla, Jason Roy (who I'm a big fan of), Jade Dernbach, Gareth Batty, Steven Davies and big hitting Irishman Kevin O'Brien Surrey appear to have a very strong unit and will be one of the favourites to qualify for the quarter-finals. Meanwhile, Essex usually have a good side by the look to have been hit with a couple of injuries though with Jesse Ryder as their oversees player to accompany the experience of James Foster, Mark Pettini and the young gun Reece Topley they should be picking up some good results, but I don't know if they can quite match Surrey's strength in depth.
Prediction: Surrey to just sneak the win.
Derbyshire Vs Nottinghamshire - Neither Derbyshire or Nottinghamshire have got off to particularly good starts this year with Derbyshire yet to win with 3 losses and a no result while Notts have only won 1 from their first 3. Derbyshire look generally weak across their batting but most of all their bowling this season. They do have Stephen Moore and Chesney Hughes at the top of the order and Marcus North in the middle order but other than that the cupboard looks pretty bare explaining their poor start. It's slightly harder to explain for Nottinghamshire who have a quality batting and bowling line-up with Michael Lumb, Alex Hales (who I'm a massive fan of), Samit Patel and James Taylor (who I'm also a massive fan of) while their bowling line-up features names like Luke Fletcher, Ajmal Shahzad, Steven Mullaney and they should be boosted by the return from Harry Gurney from international duty. Overall they just look a lot stronger than Derbyshire.
Prediction: It should be a comfortable win for Nottinghamshire
Sussex Vs Gloucestershire - Both of these two teams have had average starts with Gloucestershire winning 1 from their first 3 while Sussex have won 2 of their first 4 games. Sussex have always had a strong one-day side with big one-day players like Luke Wright, Rory Hamilton-Brown, Yasir Arafat, Michael Yardy as well as experienced batsmen like Chris Nash and and Ed Joyce. Meanwhile Gloucestershire don't really look particularly strong with a certain lack of stand out players. However, the players they do have do have a lot of experience at county level and should pick up the odd result but they will struggle against the stronger one-day sides like Sussex.
Prediction: Should be pretty comfortable all-round for Sussex.
Saturday 7th June:
Worcestershire Vs Durham - Worcestershire had a very good win tonight against Leicestershire while Durham lost out to a very strong Warwickshire side, but overall these 2 sides do look very evenly matches and they have already played once this season which saw Durham sneak a 21 run victory. I'm sure it will be that close again, and I'm not sure how much Worcestershire's home advantage will count for but both have had good results in this competition so far, but I just think that Durham will be able to call upon their earlier win against them.
Prediction: It'll be close but I'm going to go for a Durham win.
Sunday 8th June:
Gloucestershire Vs Glamorgan - Finally, this should be another intriguing game between 2 teams that aren't necessarily filled with lot's of star players and wouldn't be classed as big counties but they certainly get the job done. Gloucestershire got a very handy win tonight against Sussex but otherwise they haven't had a great start to the season. Meanwhile, Glamorgan are now onto 3 wins from their first 4 games with a good win tonight against Somerset and they seem to be working well as a one-day unit these days with an impressive start here but also making the final of the YB40 competition last season.
Prediction: Should be another good, even contest but I fancy a Glamorgan win.
So it certainly looks like we'll have some very exciting games this weekend with some being close and others looking really quite one-sided overall as the Natwest T20 Blast continues to hot up.
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