Cricket: Friends Provident Trophy

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English cricket's 50 over competition has got a new sponsor this year. Friends Provident takes over from Cheltenham & Gloucester.

Best odds/All odds
Lancashire	4.5	4.5	4.5	4.5	5	4.5	5	5.5	9.6
Essex	6.5	7	6.5	7	7	6.5	7	8	8.6
Surrey	5	7	7	7	9	7	8	7	9.6
Hampshire	9	9	9	9	9	9	8.5	8.5	12.5
Nottinghamshire	8	13	11	13	11	11	10	12	15.5
Somerset	15	15	15	15	17	15	11	14	12.5
Northamptonshire	7.5	15	13	15	15	11	17	15	13.5
Sussex	19	15	15	15	15	17	15	16	16.5
Derbyshire	19	17	17	17	17	17	21	24	19.5
Yorkshire	23	21	21	21	17	21	21	16	16.5
Warwickshire	26	17	17	17	15	17	17	15	16.5
Worcestershire	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	30	23
Kent	21	34	26	34	21	34	34	28	19.5
Gloucestershire	29	34	34	34	26	34	26	30	21
Middlesex	41	34	34	34	26	34	26	26	29
Durham	51	34	41	34	34	41	41	30	36
Leicestershire	51	51	51	51	41	51	51	50	16.5
Glamorgan	67	67	67	67	67	67	67	70	36
Ireland	501	101	201	101	101	101	201	100	-
Scotland	501	251	201	251	251	201	501	300	-
Each-way terms:		2 at 1/2	2 at 1/2	2 at 1/2	2 at 1/2	2 at 1/3	2 at 1/2

Not going to give an in-depth preview as the thoughts on the sides don't differ to much from those in the Championship threads. The Format The 18 counties are split into 2 groups of 9 and Ireland and Scotland are added to make 2 leagues of 10 sides. Northern group and Southern group. Each side plays each other once and then at the end of the league stage the top 2 in each league meet in the semi finals with the winner going on to meet at Lords in the final. Teams get 2pts for a win, 1pt for a tie/no result (rain) and 0pts for a loss. If teams are level on points are the league stage Net Run Rate is used to separate them. The Groups and odds. Northern Conference

Best odds/All odds
Lancashire	2.75	3	3.4
Nottinghamshire	5.5	6	6.4
Northamptonshire	6.5	8	8
Warwickshire	9	7	7.4
Derbyshire	9	9	10.5
Yorkshire	11	9	9.5
Worcestershire	13	11	13
Durham	21	17	18
Leicestershire	26	21	26
Scotland	51	81	100
Each-way terms:	2 at 1/3

Southern Conference

Best odds/All odds
Essex	3.5	4	5
Surrey	3.75	5	4.2
Hampshire	5	5	5.4
Sussex	8.5	7	7.4
Somerset	8.5	9	9
Kent	13	11	14
Gloucestershire	17	13	15
Middlesex	17	13	16
Glamorgan	34	34	34
Ireland	101	41	50
Each-way terms:	2 at 1/3

Bets. 2 outrights for me. 2pts ew Somerset to win Friends Provident Trophy 16/1 Stan James (1/2 1,2) Somerset are a very big price here with Stan James. Admittedly they are in the harder looking of the two conferences but that shouldn't deter them too much as they definitely have the quality in their ranks to win this trophy. Marcus Trescothick will play a prominent part for them in the early stages of the league phase before getting called up by England again but he'll be free to play the semi final and final. In his absence, Justin Langer and Cameron White will carry the mantle on. Youngsters like Hildreth, Suppiah, Durston and Edwards will provide the runs and all rounders like Blackwell, Phillips and Trego will support the bowling which will be led by the ever impressive Andrew Caddick. Somerset have Surrey and Sussex at home and they'll be up there at the end so that's a big help and although this is an awfully tough league Somerset can get a head start while world cup players are away and coast towards the semi finals and hopefully beyond. 2pts ew Nottinghamshire to win Northern Conference 6/1 Stan James (1/3 1,2) Nottinghamshire look to be a big price in this the weaker of the divisions. Lancashire are favourites, that goes without saying but they're no the side their game suggests they are. Instead I see the dangers coming more from Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Warwickshire. However in Stephen Fleming when he returns from the Caribbean they have a very good leader, as he's showing out there, and in David Hussey they have a world class batsman. Chris Read, Mark Ealham and Paul Franks provide the big hitting down the order and they have one of the best bowling attacks around. Notts were 4th in Pro40 last year and made the Twenty20 final where only a disputed no ball cost them a chance of victory. They look stronger this year and I think they'll go close in this league. Tournament begins with the 1st set of matches on Sunday :ok

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Re: Cricket: Friends Provident Trophy

Sunday 22 April 2007
	Home	Away	BPP
Hampshire v Middlesex (10:15 BST)	1.61	2.50	102%	Related markets...Match Result (Draw No Bet)
Lancashire v Worcestershire (10:15 BST)	1.70	2.46	100%	Related markets...Match Result (Draw No Bet)
Leicestershire v Durham (10:15 BST)	2.20	1.85	100%	Related markets...Match Result (Draw No Bet)
Nottinghamshire v Yorkshire (10:15 BST)	2.12	1.90	100%	Related markets...Match Result (Draw No Bet)
Somerset v Glamorgan (10:15 BST)	1.50	3.00	100%	Related markets...Match Result (Draw No Bet)
Surrey v Kent (10:15 BST)	1.65	2.60	100%	Related markets...Match Result (Draw No Bet)
Warwickshire v Northamptonshire (10:15 BST)	1.71	2.40	101%

3 for me on the opening day of this competition. 10pts Durham to beat Leicestershire 1.80 Expekt Leicestershire and Durham kick off their Northern Conference campaigns at Grace Rd having both come off 4 day Championship matches with massively differing success. Leicester were battered by Notts while Durham dished out a thrashing to Worcestershire. Leicester aren't being helped out at this monent in time by 2 of their best 3 players being out in the world cup. Nixon and Croad have just shown how good they are in guiding England home again the Windies and they're vital to Leicester who without them are going to have to rely heavily on runs from HD Ackerman. Durham are only really missing Liam Plunkett who is also away with England. However England hopefuls Steve Harmison and Graham Onions both had good championship games against Worcester and got among the wickets and will emjoy bowling at Grace Rd. Durham also have a powerful batting lineup led by the ever impressive Michael di Venuto and ably supported by many others, captain Benkenstein included. The Grace Rd pitch should suit Durham who kicked the season off with a bang in the Championship and I'll take them to open their 1 day campaign with a win here. 10pts Nottinghamshire to beat Yorkshire 2.10 Expekt Both these sides kicked off their seasons with impressive and comfortable Championship victories. Notts beating Leicester and Yorkshire winning at The Oval. Both begin their one day seasons with this clash at Trent Bridge. Notts are a good one day side who have underachieved in recent seasons but they did make the final of the Twenty20 last year and I believe there is much much more to come this season. Nottinghamshire came 4th in this Northern conference last year which could have been better had the weather been kinder to them. They also came 2nd to Leicester in the Twenty20 Northern group last summer on run rate too. Only Stephen Fleming is definitely out for Notts as he's with New Zealand. Summer signing Will Jefferson could make his debut in this match. Yorkshire were 7th in this division last year but have made 3 key signings in the off season. Darren Gough, Younis Khan and Jaques Rudolph - all good one day players have been brought in so Yorkshire should be a different proposition in this match. Matthew Hoggard will be rested though after playing a key part in the championship match in midweek. Yorkshire still have a few inexperienced youngsters in their squad and that could prove the difference here. Nottinghamshire have a fine bowling attack who can restrict sides, particularly at Trent Bridge and having added to their batting in the summer I think they'll see off Yorkshire at a nice price. 10pts Northamptonshire to beat Warwickshire 5/4 Boylesports Northants are a big price here. Warwickshire have already begun their season with a draw against Lancashire while Northants are yet to play a match so will be totally fresh coming into this. Warwickshire have added Darren Maddy to their side which will be vital in one day cricket and when Kumar Sangakkara comes back from the world cup he'll further strengthen their batting but their bowling attack, Steyn and Streak apart is very young and has the makings of one which could well go round the park, and Northants have the batting to ensure that happens. If their bowling attack can fire they'll be in contention here. Northants have sort of gone unnoticed in the winter but at the end of last season they was just starting to play some really good cricket, particularly in the one day game, as proved by their 2nd in Pro40 Division 1 where they only missed out on the title on run rate. Kepler Wessels lost the dressing room at Wantage Road last season but new coach David Capel has got the players gelled and playing well. Johannes van der Wath has arrived as an overseas player and he'll be a great all rounder at this level and if Rogers, Afzaal, Sales and Klusener are in the runs then Northants will always compete particularly with their 3 prong spin attack. I think Northants are a decent price as they are fresh, they're always a county who are under rated and won't be too affected by the absence of Monty Panesar as he was never really a regular in the 1 day stuff at Northants and I'll take Northants to cause a bit of an upset by beating the Bears on their own patch.