Cricket: Friends Life t20

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: Friends Life t20

Saturday 25 June 2011	Home	Away	BPP
	Leicestershire v Worcestershire (14:30 BST)	1.83	2.24	99.29 %

4pts Worcestershire to beat Leicestershire 11/10 Skybet It's another top of the table match in the North Group here as Leicestershire in 2nd play 4th placed Worcestershire with both knowing the winners of this match will have a very strong chance of making it through to the quarter finals of this tournament. This is a very bunched up group with the weather not being kind up north so anytime a win comes around it will put you up a couple of places and that's the case for Worcestershire here. Leicestershire will move to within 2pts of the leaders if they win. Leicestershire are likely to be unchanged from the side which played Nottinghamshire last night but my fear for them here is that they don't play spin particularly well. Only one spinner has gone for more than 32 in any spell against them this year and that was surprisingly Gary Keedy who went for 36 when Abdul Razzaq went on the rampage at Old Trafford. That's good news for Worcestershire because in Saeed Ajmal and Shakib al Hasan their two overseas players are very good spin options and then there's the likes of Chowdhury and Moeen Ali. We saw last night that this Leicestershire attack can go and if Gareth Andrew gets in he could create a bit of carnage here. Solanki, Ali and Cameron among others can all put up good knocks. I don't think there's a lot between these two sides but the record of Leicestershire against spin this season hasn't been brilliant and with Worcestershire having two quality spinners here I think that could give them the edge to win this at odds against. If they can keep Abdul Razzaq in check when he bats then they have the personnel to put up their 4th win in the competition.

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: Friends Life t20

	Sunday 26 June 2011	Home	Away	BPP
	Derbyshire v Warwickshire (12:00 BST)	2.12	1.86	100.93 %
	Durham v Leicestershire (14:30 BST)	1.74	2.32	100.57 %
	Middlesex v Gloucestershire (14:30 BST)	1.83	2.13	101.59 %
	Nottinghamshire v Lancashire (14:30 BST)	1.57	2.7	100.67 %
	Worcestershire v Yorkshire (14:30 BST)	2.06	1.95	99.83 %
	Kent v Surrey (15:00 BST)	2.25	1.81	99.69 %
	Somerset v Glamorgan (15:10 BST)	1.5	3.1	98.92 %

[Luck7]

Re: Cricket: Friends Life t20 1pt Yorkshire 10/11 to beat Worcs Worcs had their chance yesterday and blew it, Yorkshire lost to derbyshire but before that had won 3 on the spin. Bresnan back for the Yorkies and I think they are the better team here, Worcs have played some tight games but seem to be too reliant on Andrew to bail them out when they collapse and not to be trusted. Must win for both sides but I'll gladly take the touch of odds on with the visitors

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: Friends Life t20 One early one for me. Forgot it was a 12pm start :$. 4pts Derbyshire to beat Warwickshire 11/10 Skybet Warwickshire have been quite disappointing in this tournament and they are struggling with the bat for the most part in the tournament and weren't going to post much more than 150 on Friday night before the rain came. Even though he didn't make any in that game there's no Trott for this game which would further harm the Bears batting. Derbyshire have no such problems. They've put up some decent scores with the bat and on a small ground at Leek that can be crucial. Woakes is away so there's no slogger down the end of the innings or new ball bowler to disrupt a confident Derbyshire top 4. Given Warwickshire's struggles with the bat I'll take Derbyshire to win this one.

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: Friends Life t20 Derbyshire have started well :hope they can see it home. 3 more match bets for me and a couple of specials in the TV game which is Somerset vs Glamorgan. 5pts Yorkshire to beat Worcestershire 10/11 Stan James I agree with Luck7 with this one. Worcestershire played yesterday and it's never easy to back up and play the day after, especially after losing when at half time they would've been strong favourites to win. I like Yorkshire's bowling attack. It's much better than Leicestershire's and if Worcestershire can't score 150 against them I don't see them scoring it against this Yorkshire attack which features England internationals in Shahzad, Bresnan and Rashid. Bresnan gives Yorkshire more batting depth which could prove crucial and they've already survived one Gareth Andrew onslaught to win in this competition. If they control him better in this game it should be a relatively comfortable win for Yorkshire. 4pts Gloucestershire to beat Middlesex 11/10 Skybet I quite like Gloucestershire here. They were on course to beat Hampshire on Friday night before a combination of rain and a superb spell of bowling from Shahid Afridi put paid to their chances but there's no Afridi in this Middlesex bowling attack. In fact, possibly Dexter aside, there's nothing in this Middlesex attack. There isn't a huge amount in their batting either if they can get rid of the powerful Irishman Paul Stirling early on. Uxbridge is a decent batting wicket but it can spin and in Murali, Young, Marshall and Williamson Gloucestershire have plenty of spin options while Marshall, Williamson and Taylor are all batsmen who can take advantage of small boundaries. I saw Middlesex against Sussex a few weeks ago and Middlesex played spin very poorly. Middlesex are without Chris Rogers here while Andrew Strauss will only play the 4 day match. Steven Finn is with England so Gloucestershire can take advantage of those absentees and pick up a rare win here. 3pts Lancashire to beat Nottinghamshire 13/8 Stan James I'm going to chance Lancashire here. They were crap against Durham on Friday night but they weren't helped by England's Jimmy Anderson coming in and going for 54 from his 4 overs. Simon Kerrigan is back today and if Sajid Mahmood comes back into the side after he was strangely left out on Friday night then I think Lancs have the attack to trouble the leaders here. We saw on TV on Friday night that this wicket was slow and turned a little bit so Kerrigan, Keedy and Parry should be more than tricky on this wicket as will Mahmood's slower balls. Nottinghamshire will still be without Samit Patel so if Lancashire can get them 4 down relatively early or without Hussey going bonkers on them they'll be in the game. There isn't a huge amount to worry about in the Notts bowling attack and although Lancashire's batting isn't the best they play enough all rounders to bat fairly deep. It's with the ball I think they can win this game though and 13/8 is a big enough price for me. And now the TV game. 5pts Somerset vs Glamorgan - Over 10.5 6's 8/11 Skybet We all know it's a short boundary at Taunton and in the likes of Trescothick, Trego and Pollard, Somerset have 3 of the biggest hitters in the game, not to mention the likes of Buttler and Hildreth who are both capable of clearing this boundary. Glamorgan aren't the worst when it comes to 6 hitting either. Mark Cosgrove can mishit it for 6 here while the likes of Petersen, Allenby, Rees, Cooke, Wallace and Wagg will all be able to biff it far enough here. With the women's game earlier on in the day there's likely to be a short boundary somewhere plus with the dugout and other T20 razzmatazz this boundary will be easily clearable. Neither bowling attack is much cop so I expect a high scoring game here and one which will contain at least 11 6's. Both matches which have been played on this ground will have covered this line with Sussex having 11 overs of their innings left when the rain came and there had already been 10 6's in that match. These two played out a high scoring game in the Pro40 earlier in the season and I expect the same here. 1pt ew G.Wagg Top Glamorgan Batsman 12/1 Coral (1/5 1,2,3) Graham Wagg looks a big price here because he can whack a long ball and he's someone who may be shoved up the order to take advantage of the short boundaries in a sacrifice mission. If Glamorgan bat 2nd and are chasing plenty he might be sent in to up the run rate too. I think he'll bat at some point anyway even if it's just to propel the total were the Welsh side to bat first. When he's in he scores very quickly and if the top order fails or falls cheaply then I think he is the man who can take advantage. There's nothing in this Somerset bowling attack to trouble him so at 12/1 I'm happy to take Wagg, or 'Wragg' can Coral call him, to top score this afternoon.

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: Friends Life t20 Burgled a 2.45pt profit from today's matches with the 11th 6 off the last ball of the TV game. Hopefully the luck is beginning to turn a bit in my direction now. Still -58.59 overall though. Going with a fairly big bet for tomorrow night where there is only one match.

Monday 27 June 2011	Home	Away	BPP
	Hampshire v Sussex (19:10 BST)	1.9	2.08	100.46 %

6pts Under 7.5 6's 5/6 William Hill I can't be having this line. It's too big for me. Both sides are missing key batsmen and in four matches at the Rose Bowl there hasn't been more than 7 6's and the only game there were 7 6's was when Somerset came to town and Sussex are no Somerset in the hitting department. In fact in two of Sussex's last 3 completed innings they've failed to hit a 6 which shows how high this line is with Hampshire's middle order of Vince, McKenzie and Pothas known more for getting their runs on the deck of via flicks and nudges. Unless Boom Boom Afridi does something outrageous you have to think this line won't be in danger. I don't know if the line is because Hampshire pulled the boundaries in to resemble a postage stamp in this fixture last year but I don't see that happening here a) because the women's final preceeds this game and they will want proper boundaries but b) because this time we have 3 spinners and it won't help them bowling on short boundaries. In fact we'd prefer them as big as they can be and with that in mind coupled with the fact the total hasn't been covered at the Rose Bowl yet this season and the added bonus that both have very good bowling attacks, I'm happy to have a chunky bet on the unders here.

[Luck7]

Re: Cricket: Friends Life t20 Nice call was bit worried when saw boundaries in and Boom Boom going mad but after he went never in doubt:clap

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: Friends Life t20 Cheers mate. Must admit I thought it was going to be one of those nights when Boom Boom was sent out to give it a biff but twas all good in the end. +5 for the night so back to -53.59 overall now. The competition takes a break for the ODI tomorrow but is back Wednesday.

[Luck7]

Re: Cricket: Friends Life t20 I thought about taking Yorks in the tv game but just couldnt do it 1pt worcs 4/5 to beat Nothants Bet365 If you had told me at the start of T20 I would be taking Worcs odds on at Northants I would have laughed at you but this looks a great opportunity against a Northants team who really are on the ropes, a shocking campaign so far and a hammering in a CC game. O'Brien can talk about still qualifying if he wants but it wont happen. I expect Northants to be put out of their misery tonight.

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: Friends Life t20 3 for me tonight. 2 in the Leicestershire vs Yorkshire TV game and one in the other game. 4pts Leicestershire Most 6's 10/11 Blue Square Leicestershire have established a few hitters in their side this season, none more so than Abdul Razzaq but there's also the likes of Josh Cobb, Andrew McDonald and Will Jefferson while even the likes of Wayne White and Matthew Hoggard further down the innings can hit a few. Yorkshire don't really have an established 6 hitters. Andrew Gale can probably hit a few and Gary Ballance can put junk away but there's nobody you would look at and say that's a natural big hitter like a McDonald or a Razzaq. Leicestershire have hit 31 6's in 8 innings in this tournament, one of which was barely 5 overs because of the rain and another which was 2.4 overs so it's basically 31 6's in 6.5 innings. Yorkshire have hit just 17 in 7 innings which shows the difference in hitting abilities. All things being equal I would expect Leicestershire to hit the most 6's here especially on their own track. 1pt ew W.Jefferson Top Leicestershire Batsman 11/2 Coral (1/5 1,2,3) Will Jefferson hasn't done me many favours in Leicestershire matches so far but I have to go with him against after his sublime 63 off 30 balls against Durham on Sunday on what is a massive ground at the Riverside. Jefferson has been in excellent nick all summer and has gone from strength to strength the longer this competition has gone on. It's not very often we get the opportunity to back someone in the top 4 of a side at an each way price but we get that chance here and it's a chance I'm very much going to take. 3pts Northants to beat Worcestershire 11/10 Skybet Northants are stuck at the bottom of this North Group and they will need to start winning pretty quickly if they are to have any chance of qualifying from this group. Worcestershire are much better placed to qualify heading to Milton Keynes for this match. Northants have Niall O'Brien back now and he appears to be fully fit which will be a boost to Northants as he covers as a quality batsman as well as a very good wicket keeper which will allow Northants to play more specialist players be it batsmen or bowlers. Jack Brooks is out of this match with tonsilitis while David Sales and Mal Loye also miss out so Bilal Shafayat will continue to open the batting. Worcestershire have been going along nicely in recent matches with the likes of Moeen Ali, Alex Kervezee and James Cameron in decent nick with the bat while Saeed Ajmal, Shakib-al-Hasan and Gareth Andrew have been in good touch with the ball. Kervezee has returned from Holland duty for this match which means Worcestershire are likely to be unchanged. Northants have been pretty rotten in their matches so far but a lot of that has been down to the wickets they've played on. They've been green tops which have been tough for batting but the Campbell Park wicket should be a bit easier and it should suit their attacking batsmen a lot more. I don't expect it to turn too much so Northants should be able to play the spinners well and if they do that they are 50% of the way there. Although the respective form of these two are in opposite trends I'm still prepared to give Northants one last chance at odds against.

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: Friends Life t20

Thursday 30 June 2011	Home	Away	BPP
	Surrey v Somerset (18:30 BST)	2.65	1.61	99.64 %
	Hampshire v Kent (19:10 BST)	1.53	3	98.55 %

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: Friends Life t20 Poor night for me on Wednesday. In hindsight I should've staked more on the Leicestershire 6's as that came in so easily. Annoyed with Northants. Lost with 3 balls to spare but didn't score a single run off their last over so for the overs they scored runs off they actually won. Idiots. -1.36 on the night as Jefferson continues to defy me so back to -54.95 overall. I hope to make significant inroads into that on Thursday night though as I'm going with 4 in the TV game which is Hampshire vs Kent. 6pts Hampshire vs Kent - Under 6.5 6's 5/6 William Hill This match is being played on the same strip the Hampshire vs Sussex match was played on and we saw in that game how hard it was to bat on so I expect it to be just as hard if not harder with the dry last day or two. Unlike on Monday there's no womens match here so I would expect the shorter boundaries to go back a little bit to protect Hampshire's spinners a little bit more and making 6's harder to hit. The only game this line was covered in was the first game of the tournament when Hampshire played Somerset on an easy batting wicket. This one has had a test match and 3 T20 matches on it so it won't be easy to bat on and so as long as Afridi doesn't cause mega carnage I'm confident this line won't be covered in this match. 4pts Highest Individual Score 25-49 runs 15/8 Blue Square I thought about taking Stan James' under 55 at a lower price but I decided to take the bigger price. If someone makes between 50 and 54 on this wicket then good luck to them. I'm confident they won't though because as I've said above it won't be easy to bat on and both sides have decent enough bowling attacks. Hampshire's bowling attack comprises of all internationals bar Danny Briggs who will be an England international while Kent have four internationals in their bowling attack with the 5th bowler may well being a spinner who will be hard to score regular runs off. Tired, slow wicket, good bowling attacks and hit and miss batting line up's should see the highest score stay in the 25-49 range. 2.73pts S.Afridi Most Economical Bowler 11/4 Stan James 2.27pts I.Tahir Most Economical Bowler 7/2 Stan James Only Afridi, Tahir, Mascarenhas, Mahmood, Riaz and Langeveldt count here. I've dutched Hampshire's two international spinners up here at a price of 2.05 as I believe one of them will be the most economical bowler in this match. We saw on Monday how it was a lot easier to get the seamers away than it was the spinners so I'm eliminating the seamers on that. I believe all 4 while all international bowlers will be got after by the batsmen who know it will get a lot harder later in the innings. Mahmood and Langeveldt will bowl at the death which won't make bowling economically easy for them while Riaz can be quite expensive naturally. Afridi and Tahir went for 3 an over each on Monday night and I can't see them both going for more than 6 an over here. Afridi's the likeliest winner but I'll play safe and include Tahir as it still gives us a payout of odds against. 1pt ew N.McKenzie Top Hampshire Batsman 11/2 Coral (1/5 1,2,3) Neil McKenzie has been there, seen it all and done it all so whichever wicket he's playing on and whoever the bowling attack is it doesn't worry him. He'll be Hampshire's glue. The one who will keep the board ticking over when scoring isn't easy and the one who the others can biff it around when scoring gets a bit easier. With Afridi likely to open McKenzie will probably bat at 5 but I don't necessarily mind that here as I'm sure wickets will fall both at the top when batsmen look to get a fast start and in the middle when the spin strangling takes place. We've seen McKenzie play some important knocks in pressure situations for Hampshire in the past and giving his unflappable nature I think he's an excellent each way bet to nothing here.

[BIG X]

Re: Cricket: Friends Life t20 Some good shouts again Kev :clap I followed on the under 50 shout with William Hill. Couldn't believe it when Mckenzie got out on 48. :lol

[Mirage]

Re: Cricket: Friends Life t20 Brilliant work Kev!

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: Friends Life t20 Cheers guys. Easily my best day of the season. If only Hampshire could be on TV every night :lol. Bit of luck with Macca getting out when he did but a complete full house tonight. +24.35pts on the night which wipes out almost half the loss in one go. Back to -30.60 overall now.

[Westy]

Re: Cricket: Friends Life t20 Fantastic work Kev :clap

[Luck7]

Re: Cricket: Friends Life t20 Nice work Kev

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: Friends Life t20

Friday 1 July 2011	Home	Away	BPP
	Gloucestershire v Somerset (17:30 BST)	3.4	1.45	98.38 %
	Lancashire v Durham (17:30 BST)	2.22	1.83	99.69 %
	Middlesex v Hampshire (17:30 BST)	3.25	1.45	99.73 %
	Worcestershire v Leicestershire (17:30 BST)	2	1.93	101.81 %
	Northamptonshire v Yorkshire (18:50 BST)	2.23	1.83	99.39 %
	Derbyshire v Nottinghamshire (19:00 BST)	2.68	1.6	99.81 %
	Kent v Essex (19:00 BST)	2.24	1.8	100.20 %
	Glamorgan v Surrey (19:30 BST)	2.18	1.83	100.42 %

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: Friends Life t20 Cheers mate. Good shout yourself on Worcestershire t'other night :ok.

[infamous]

Re: Cricket: Friends Life t20 About as good as it gets from Kev there - well played mate! I'll get us started on tonight's games. Plenty of fixtures so hopefully some good opportunities to make some money. 6pts Essex to beat Kent at 4/5 with BlueSquare Both of these sides sit on 10pts so far and fin themselves in a crunch must-win game to really push forward and try to stay in touch with those at the top of the table. Essex are likely to have Styris and Napier back in their lineup tonight which will be a huge boost to a lineup already containing players such as Shah, Ten Doeschate, and Foster. Southee has been a revelation for them opening the bowling, and sometimes even the batting! Masters, Napier, Phillips, and RTD provide other solid options with the ball. They look to have far too much depth with the bat, and a lot more options with the ball than the Kent side do. Kent's batting has been pretty flaky lately with Denly and Key not really performing in this format on the whole. Van Jaarsveld didn't bat yesterday due to splitting the webbing on his hand, so I'd assume he's a doubt for tonight also. Not good when your best batsman is missing, and the others are not in great form. They will as a team surely be low on confidence after getting skittled for just 74 yesterday, and I fancy Essex to rub salt in their wounds by winning tonight. 4pts Worcestershire to beat Leciestershire at 5/6 with Ladbrokes Both of these sides have performed very well in this competition so far and it really is a tough match to call. Leicestershire have looked great with the bat - Cobb gets them off to flyers on the regular, and players like McDonald, Jefferson, Taylor, and Razzaq have all chipped in with runs. The bowling however looks a little one dimensional at times with Hoggard, Gurney, Razzaq, and Mcdonald. Worcestershire are probably the opposite - always liable to a collapse, but the bowling looks very good. With the bat though they have looked good in the 20 over format - Solanki, Ali, Kervezee, Shakib, Andrew, and Cameron have all scored good runs. The main reason for backing them however - IMO spin is king in this format of the game. Worcestershire have 2 superstar gun bowlers in Ajmal and Shakib al Hasan. Make no mistake about it, both are world class. You then have Ali who provides a decent spinning option as well. With the game being at New Road, I'm assuming that Worcestershire will be smart enough to produce a pitch that suits them, and I'm happy to take these odds on them winning again tonight.

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: Friends Life t20 Good luck mate. I agree with you. Gonna do my bets in a few posts as I'm looking through each match while watching the ODI. Will do them in time order. 4pts Worcestershire to beat Leicestershire Evs Boylesports I pretty much agree with infamous here in that it is a tough one to call but I always say I like the bowling attack over the batting line up and that's what we've got here. Bumpy Rhodes has stated that this match will be played on a used pitch and that's what I think could decide this. The ball won't come onto the bat too easily so the likes of Cobb and McDonald who enjoy hitting through the line won't be able to do that as easily as they would like and in Saeed Ajmal and Shakin al Hasan Worcestershire have a couple of special spinners. They may well play Chowdhury too who is a fairly decent spinner. Leicestershire have Claude Henderson who won't be too easy to play but the quicks in the likes of Hoggard, Gurney and even McDonald won't have much joy whereas the part time spin of Cobb should be a lot easier to hit. Both sides have long batting line up's but it's Worcestershire's bowling attack, the two international spinners in particular, which lead me to side with them here.

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: Friends Life t20 2 more for me. 4pts Yorkshire to beat Northamptonshire 5/6 Ladbrokes Both these sides are struggling when it comes to qualifying for the quarter finals but Yorkshire can officially put Northants out of their misery tonight. Neither side have been in particularly great form but the difference between them is Yorkshire's batting line up is short whereas Northants are struggling with the bat. Yorkshire aren't actually struggling in terms of form with the likes of Gale, Root, Ballance and Lyth all have decent knocks in the tournament. Sayers looked good the other night as well. Northants are really struggling with the bat. They haven't got enough front line batsmen anyway but the ones they have, Wakely aside, are really struggling and the green wickets they are producing at Wantage Road can't be helping. I accept Northants will win most matches with their bowling but that's not the case tonight. Chaminda Vaas is out with injury, Jack Brooks has tonsilitis and David Lucas who took 3/19 the other night is ill so this is a weak batting line up and an almost reserve seam bowling attack. Contrast that to Yorkshire who have two of the better seamers in the country in Sidebottom and Shahzad - ok Shahzad went a bit on Wednesday but you don't see any Northants batsmen in the form likely to do to him what Josh Cobb did. While in Rashid and Rafiq they have capable spin. As long as Yorkshire make the most of their short batting line up I think this is a match they can pick up the 2pts from. 5pts Essex to beat Kent 4/5 Blue Square These two sides have key personnel missing out in Kent's case and coming back in Essex's case and that can prove pivotal tonight. Kent will probably be able to put last night's defeat behind them easily enough and Rob Key almost said it would've been a bonus win had they won. Losing van Jaarsveld isn't as easy to put behind them and he is absent from their squad this evening which isn't helpful when they had a short batting line up anyway and two openers who are massively out of form. Essex have Styris and Napier back tonight which will make them more powerful with the bat. Styris isn't bowling immediately but Napier is and his pace and swing can be lively. Essex could also have Bopara back for this match too as he's not playing for England today so a full strength Essex side with lots of dangerous players in their side can see to a depleted Kent team this evening.

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: Friends Life t20 Grrr. Worcestershire are giving the batting performance I wanted on Wednesday tonight :wall. Couple of overpriced top bats in the TV match. 2pts T.Maynard Top Surrey Batsman 5/1 Stan James Tom Maynard looks a massive price here. Prior to last night's game with Somerset he'd top scored in Surrey's 3 previous matches and was only denied a 4th top in the game prior to that by Kevin Pietersen who isn't around tonight. There's no doubt Maynard is in excellent nick as he has been all season having scored solid runs in the Championship prior to this. He'll have the advantage of knowing every inch of the Swalec having spent all but this season there and will have faced most of these bowlers in the nets. This isn't a Surrey batting line up which is firing on all cylinders but one man who is going well is Maynard and at 5/1 he looks a decent bet to me. 1pt C.Cooke Top Glamorgan Batsman 8/1 Bet365 This is another big price on someone who has top scored in 2 of the last 3 matches Glamorgan have played in this tournament and was not out when the overs ran out in the other. Cooke doesn't play 4 day cricket so unlike some of his teammates he'll be fresh as a daisy and he's been scoring solid runs in the 2nd half of the innings for Glamorgan. If the openers fail which with Nannes and Arafat around they could easily do then Cooke likely to be in the mix again when the top score is achieved and at 8/1 given his record recently it's certainly worth paying to find out if he can complete the hat trick tonight.

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: Friends Life t20

Saturday 2 July 2011	Home	Away	BPP
	Essex v Middlesex (17:10 BST)	1.44	3.25	100.00 %

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: Friends Life t20 Poor night for me last night. Will update the +/- after this game. 3 for me today. A side bet and two overpriced top bats. 5pts Over 9.5 6's 5/6 William Hill This line looks low enough to me to warrant a bet. We all know the boundaries at Chelmsford are quite short and if Essex bat first they can take advantage of those. It's only 6 days ago that Gloucestershire scored over 250 on a ground a little bit bigger than this against this Middlesex attack. I guess the line is so low because Middlesex are out and are perceived and being crap. That wouldn't be too unfair an assumption in fairness but they do have some 6 hitters in their side especially on these small boundaries. The likes of Stirling, Dexter, Newman and even McLaren and Simpson can all hit a long ball while pretty much the entire Essex top 8 can hit a decent ball. Essex's attack come here off the back of taking just one Kent wicket last night so there's no reason why both sides won't score 6's. Middlesex have no pressure on them so they can swing from the hip and go for glory while Essex just do that naturally. I'm happy this line will be covered. 1pt ew A.Wheater Top Essex Batsman 8/1 Coral (1/5 1,2,3) I took this at 12/1 earlier this afternoon but while I was messing about watching the test match and the Tour de France it's moved into 8/1 so I'll post it at 8/1 which I still think is a fair price. We never truly know what Essex are going to do with their batting line up but Adam Wheater opened the batting at Canterbury last night and were he to do so again tonight then this 8/1 would look mighty big. Even if he doesn't this is an Essex batting line up which hasn't put the runs on the board that it should be doing regularly enough so he'll have every chance wherever he bats. There's no Bopara for this one I would imagine so there will be a top order spot to fill even if it isn't the opening place so at 8/1 I'll pay to see where Wheater bats safe in the knowledge he's a contender wherever he bats. 1pt ew J.Simpson Top Middlesex Batsman 7/1 Coral (1/5 1,2,3) John Simpson has two top scores to his name for Middlesex in this competition, one of which came on a ground similar to this at Taunton when he laced 60 in next to no time and something similar tonight could see him get the job done here too. This isn't a full strength Middlesex batting line up as Dawid Malan and Jamie Dalrymple are both injured while Andrew Strauss and Chris Rogers are being saved for the Championship cricket which is now Middlesex's focus for the season. Simpson clearly looked at Adam Gilchrist last season because he models his batting on the Aussie legend and hits it a bit like him. With no real standout opposition in this Middlesex line up given that they all contribute steadily rather than one man who is sufficiently outscoring the rest, I'll go for Simpson who will bat no lower than 6 here.

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: Friends Life t20

Sunday 3 July 2011	Home	Away	BPP
	Durham v Worcestershire (14:30 BST)	1.7	2.4	100.49 %
	Lancashire v Derbyshire (14:30 BST)	1.66	2.52	99.68 %
	Leicestershire v Northamptonshire (14:30 BST)	1.5	2.96	100.45 %
	Yorkshire v Nottinghamshire (14:30 BST)	2.68	1.57	100.95 %
	Sussex v Gloucestershire (14:40 BST)	1.45	3.15	100.71 %
	Kent v Glamorgan (15:00 BST)	1.66	2.49	100.16 %

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: Friends Life t20 In danger of giving Thursday's good night back again after two poor nights. The amount of 4's that landed within a yard of the rope last night was so annoying it was untrue. Anyway onto today. Not a huge amount I fancy but taking 2 that I think are overpriced. 3pts Derbyshire to beat Lancashire 6/4 VC Derbyshire are a nice price here considering these two tied in their first meeting. They only went down to runaway leaders Nottinghamshire on Friday night thanks to special knocks from Alex Hales and Samit Patel and Lancashire don't have too many batsmen of that ilk. Lancashire's strength is their bowling, especially their spinners but Derbyshire have been scoring plenty of runs in this competition and if the likes of Durston or Chesney Hughes come off then they will put a decent total up here with the rest scoring normally around them. Derbyshire have 3 fairly decent spin options which could even be four were Wainwright to play and with the stronger batting line up with Guptill a standout player I just think Derbyshire could be a big price to upset the hosts here in what is a massive game in the race for the quarter finals from this group. 3pts Gloucestershire to beat Sussex 2/1 Bet365 Gloucestershire are no certainty's here but they do look a good price given this game is on a club ground and it was only 7 days ago on a club ground that they rattled off over 250. Admittedly this Sussex attack is better than that Middlesex one but if someone like O'Brien comes off again then he'll put the pressure on the Sharks here. Another reason why Gloucestershire have a chance on a club ground is their spin options. Murali, Williamson and Young can all bowl 4 economical overs and make it hard for Sussex who we saw at Hampshire on Monday night, aren't necessarily the best players of spin. Sussex could have Prior back here but they will be without Rana Naved who would equate to a fairly big loss with his ability to bowl at the death. Gloucestershire have won their last two in this competition, the latest win being over Somerset, so they'll be full of confidence and they look a big price to beat a Sussex side who but for rain would've lost their last three and who could be a bit jaded from a 4 day game which only ended yesterday. I'll chance Gloucestershire here.

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: Friends Life t20 No joy with either of those but if Chris Nash takes 4/7 in his life again I'll be surprised :wall. 2 for the TV game tonight. 7pts Surrey vs Sussex - Over 9.5 6's 8/11 William Hill I don't know if this line is this low because Hills think this match is at The Oval but it isn't it's at Whitgift School. Now anyone who has played cricket at school will know the boundaries aren't the biggest and that's definitely the case here. Then factor in the space needed to position cameras, commentary boxes, studios and dugouts, not to mention spectators (although most of them sit on the bank) and you've got an even shorter ground. Earlier in the season Graham Napier showed just how small this ground is when he went on a 6's assault in a four day game. He hit 16 6's on his own and that's in a game where batting time is more of the essence. Looking at the personnel on show tonight and we've got solid hitters in the form of Davies, Roy, Hamilton-Brown, Maynard and de Bruyn for Surrey and Prior, Wright, Nash and Vincent for Sussex. Rana Naved would've been another big hitter but he's injured for this match which isn't ideal from the hitting sense but it could lead to 4 more overs which are easier to hit so swings and roundabouts. Anyway conditions are good, boundaries are very small so this one almost has to have 10 6's in it. 1pt ew Z.Ansari Top Surrey Batsman 12/1 Coral (1/5 1,2,3) Taking a little bit of a risk here as given that he bats at 6 he's no shoo in to get in but if he does then his form is good. He's only batted 3 times in the competition so far and has placed on all 3 occasions with a 30* which came on Sky against Essex, a 24 and a 34 not out which was against Glamorgan on Friday night. He had been batting down at 8 but thankfully the Spriegel calamity looks to be over and Arafat, another who was coming in ahead of him, is injured tonight so it's possible Zafar Ansari will bat as high as 6 tonight. He's hit 6's at Cardiff and against Essex so clearing these ropes won't be a problem and at 12/1 I'll pay to see just how well he goes.

[Spooner]

Re: Cricket: Friends Life t20 I work right near the Whitgift School, beautiful day here at the moment and totally agree with your sixes bet, should easily be covered with a decent total from the first batting side.

[BIG X]

Re: Cricket: Friends Life t20 Thanks for the info on the 6's Kev. I will get right on that. :hope Just checked around and PaddyPower are offering the same bet @ 4/7