It's quarter-finals time of the English Domestic T20 Blast competition with 8 teams battling away for 4 places on the best day of the cricketing year in my opinion, T20 Finals day. Lancashire, Surrey, Essex and Nottinghamshire are the 4 sides that finished in the top 2 of their respective groups and gained home advantage against their opponents who finished lower down in the top 4 and are Glamorgan, Worcestershire, Warwickshire (or the Birmingham Bears if you must) and Hampshire which did come at some surprise as they always seem to do brilliantly and secure a home draw. I do have to take my hats off to Glamorgan and Worcestershire who are the 2 surprise packages of the South and North groups in making the quarter-finals and it just signals to me how well they play as a team and how much they've improved over the last year or so, especially Glamorgan who made the final of what was the 40 over competition last year. Essex have been particularly impressive despite losing their last 3 games they still finished top of the group such was their early dominance and Surrey finished a place below Essex and are an absolute powerhouse of a team especially at home so they are huge favourites to make finals day once again. I'm always very impressed by Nottinghamshire who I'm going to stick my neck out and say are the best one-day side in the country with the likes of Michael Lumb, Alex Hales, James Taylor, Samit Patel, Harry Gurney and possibly one of the most underrated county cricketers in Steven Mullaney who is a massive player for them. Finally, Lancashire were equally as impressive in running away with the North Group and to be honest with the sides there I expected them to qualify but not necessarily in such an emphatic way, though that may be the influence that Jos Buttler had for them in part and it will be interesting to see how they play without their newest premier finisher.
Now it's time to have a look ahead to each of the quarter-finals which are taking place over the weekend and are all on Sky Sports.
Friday 1st August: (Evening)
Lancashire Vs Glamorgan - This to me looks like one of the closest of the quarter-finals with Lancashire dominating in the North group with a good squad that was able to pick up a lot of momentum and perform pretty consistently throughout and home advantage for them is both fully deserved and will be fully utilised as I'm sure they'll prepare a pretty favourable pitch and their fans will be out in full force to try and cheer them to victory. At home Lancashire have been very solid and they are consistent performers in the one-day format making the quarter-finals last year too. Glamorgan meanwhile have been one of the surprise packages of T20 to come through a South group where to be honest there are probably 2 or 3 stronger teams on paper that finished below them. However as a team they've played very well and that's the important thing and often a team of top individuals won't always do as well because they won't have the same togetherness. They're also a very confident side and that probably stems from the Lord's final they made last year but came up short in and I think given the consistency of their performances throughout the south group they do have a good chance of victory here. The one time they seemed to fall short was when they played the really top and strong one-day sides like Essex or Surrey and Lancashire are in that same bracket which may give them a slight edge.
Prediction: Lancashire
Saturday 2nd August: (Afternoon)
Surrey Vs Worcestershire - Surrey, as I said earlier, have a team full of top class players who all seem to have come together in this competition and turned Surrey into complete powerhouses. Batting wise they've been brilliant and Jason Roy has been a stand out player for them in doing so. They have a lot of international and really good experienced players, with the likes of Kevin Pietersen and Gareth Batty adding a lot along with their overseas players. In my opinion they are a side that has performed very well at home and can easily run Worcestershire ragged in this match as The Oval is a really big ground and home advantage will play a huge role here as they are far more experienced in defending every corner of it. Worcestershire have been another surprise package with the help of Saeed Ajmal as their star player but in my view they will have to be right at the top of their game to have any chance of qualifying given their opponents. Like Glamorgan, Worcestershire aren't filled with stars but are confident and have played very well as a consistent unit but have also struggled against those big sides that just have something extra over them and that is exactly what Surrey have here.
Prediction: Surrey
Saturday 2nd August: (Evening)
Essex Vs Warwickshire - Following that Surrey/Worcestershire game is another intriguing game between Essex who qualified with a home draw so early thanks to a stunning run in the middle that they were able to get away with losing their last 3 games while Warwickshire only just managed to sneak into the top 4 with good wins in their last games while Yorkshire missed 2 golden opportunities to book their place in the next round. Essex in my opinion are one of the best one day, and particularly T20, sides in the country. It's hard to find too much of a weakness in their side to be honest and at Chelmsford they are usually top class although they have lost some form recently which they need to get back, but they will certainly be up for this big game which is far far more important than any game they've had to play recently. Warwickshire do have a mixed line-up where it's easier to pick out possible holes or weaknesses unlike Essex and they have certainly not been as consistent this season in the one-day formats. In my opinion the way this match could go could depend on whether Chris Woakes is allowed to play. If the answer is no that probably just creates too many weaknesses for Warwickshire without at least one or two being exploited.
Prediction: Essex
Sunday 3rd August: (Afternoon)
Nottinghamshire Vs Hampshire - This is comfortably in my opinion the tightest of the quarter-finals to try and call. Nottinghamshire and Hampshire are probably 2 of the top 3 one-day sides in the country right now with both sides having plenty of top class batsmen, plenty of power hitters and the top class bowling to match. Nottinghamshire always seem to get off to great starts with the bat when they have Hales and Lumb to kick things off and with Taylor and Patel to come in the middle and Mullaney to finish off the innings it's easy to see why they consistently build good totals. With the ball again Mullaney shines out as his medium pace is always economical while Harry Gurney's performances over the last year have earned him an England call-up while Ajmal Shahzad, Samit Patel and of course Luke Fletcher who's come in half way through the season and turned out to be a fantastic death bowler. As you can see there is very in terms of weakness in Nottinghamshire's T20 team and at Trent Bridge they are possibly the hardest team to beat. Hampshire are equally as strong but they are much better at the Ageas Bowl than away from home which gives Notts an early edge. Compared to previous years Hampshire seem to be lacking in the bowling a little bit more which could be due to the retirement of Dimi Mascarenhas. With Chris Wood as a death bowler though they won't ever concede too many runs at the death while Danny Briggs allows them to keep things tight in the middle. Michael Carberry, Jimmy Adams and James Vince have all been brilliant this season along with the overseas signing of Glenn Maxwell which insures that they have plenty of batting. As I mentioned earlier Notts are great at home and have no obvious weakness while Hampshire do have a slight bowling weakness and another slight weakness away from their favourable Ageas Bowl pitches.
Prediction: Nottinghamshire
I really like the way that the ECB has scheduled the matches so that they can all be televised and so that as many spectators can get down over the course of the weekend. Not only do I expect to see plenty of full houses, we should be treated to 4 very close games with plenty of entertainment and looking at the line-up whoever makes finals day will fully deserve it.
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