Cricket: Clydesdale Bank 40

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The 2nd competition of the English domestic season begins on Sunday and it's the one day competition. It's a bit of a remake of the Pro40 from last year but played in the C&G/Friends Provident format from last year. All 18 first class counties are joined by Holland, Scotland and a Unicorns side which is made up of players who no longer have county contracts or youngsters who didn't quite make the grade. The 21 sides are split into 3 groups of 7 which came out of the hat as follows: Group A Somerset Sussex Lancashire Surrey Glamorgan Worcestershire Unicorns Note: Glamorgan begin the group on -1pt. Group B Essex Middlesex Yorkshire Derbyshire Gloucestershire Northants Netherlands Group C Hampshire Durham Kent Nottinghamshire Warwickshire Leicestershire Scotland Teams pick up 2pts for a win, 1pt for a tie/no result and nothing for losing. The winner from each group goes into the semi final along with the best placed runner up. As the name suggests the matches are 40 overs per side. 16 of those overs are powerplay overs which run like the 50 over international matches. There's a mandatory 8 over powerplay at the start of the innings then the bowling side get a 4 over powerplay as do the batting side as in one day internationals.

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: Clydesdale Bank 40 That's the format out of the way, lets get some bets going. 4 outrights for me in total. 2 for the tournament and 2 group ones. 1pt ew Essex to win Clydesbank Bank 40 12/1 Blue Square (1/2 1,2) Essex are a very well oiled one day outfit and they haven't done too bad out of England call up's when you consider that Bopara, Foster and Napier were called up to England's twenty20 squad last year and this time round it's just Bopara. Even while Bopara's missing, Alastair Cook will be at Chelmsford and he showed on a couple of occasions last year and over the winter, how he's improving in one day cricket. Essex have started the season well and in ten Doeschate, Napier and Foster they have 3 explosive cricketers. Grant Flower will marshall the sides batting. The bowling is of slight concern later in the summer when Kaneria is likely to leave but Tim Phillips and Grant Flower can bowl spin. Masters and Napier are a decent new ball pairing and Wright isn't a bad back up. Pettini is a solid if unspectacular captain. Essex have begun their 4 day season well and they are usually a much better 1 day team. They've got the easiest looking of the 3 groups and at 12/1 I'll take the 2005 and 2006 Pro40 winners to win the 1st Clydesdale Bank 40. 1pt ew Nottinghamshire to win Clydesdale Bank 40 20/1 Bet365 (1/2 1,2) Nottinghamshire are a side I like the look of this season. I think Mick Newell has improved his squad and I expect a tilt at most things this season for the Trent Bridge outfit. They have their contingent of England players away for most of the summer but they have plenty of sufficient back up. Ali Brown could move up to open the batting which would be consolidated by the excellent Mark Wagh and Samit Patel. Later in the summer David Hussey will provide a big presence in the batting line up. Down the order there's a few hitters in Read, Franks and Adams, the latter two will be bey key to the bowling as well. Luke Fletcher, Charlie Shreck, Carter and even Pattinson give the Notts side plenty of options and there may even be times when Ryan Sidebottom is left out for England and he gets in. I think Notts have all bases in their side covered but they do have a tricky group. Easily the hardest of the 3 but if they start well while the others have personnel on England duty half the battle could be won. Even with a tough group I still think Notts are good enough to be highly competitive and this 20/1 is just a fraction on the large side so I'll have a punt on them as a 2nd outright. 3pts Sussex to win Group A 10/3 William Hill Sussex have won the Pro40 for the last two seasons so it's strange that they are not favourites to win this group. Even more so when you consider Somerset are weaker this season without Justin Langer and will be missing key batsman and keeper Craig Kieswetter for a lot of the summer. Sussex will be without Michael Yardy and Luke Wright while the world twenty20 is on but both will return while England are on test duty. They could even have Matthew Prior for the whole summer if Kieswetter gets the gloves off him permanently. Sussex have flown out of the traps in 4 day cricket this season and have the perfect recipe for one day success. Ed Joyce and Murray Goodwin almost guarantee runs while the likes of Rana and Arafat, Kirtley and Wright when he's there and Martin-Jenkins when he isn't, are all capable wicket takers. Monty's a given to go well at Hove so I like Sussex's makeup. Of the rest in this group, Lancashire look a player or two light now that Flintoff isn't playing much this season. Surrey are in transition and have no real bowling strength in one day cricket. Glamorgan start a point behind everybody and could beat a few but may lack the consistency of a Sussex and Worcester were decimated personnel wise in the summer. I think Sussex are a great price here. They wouldn't have been much bigger to win Pro40 had that competition carried on so I have to take the 10/3. 1pt Leicestershire to win Group C 11/1 Blue Square Group C is without a doubt the group of death but Leicestershire could just be a smidgeon underrated here. I suspect this group will have an element of "everyone beats everyone" about it so if Leicestershire can make sure they don't slip up against Scotland or Warwickshire then they may well be in the mix when this group is played out. The main 4 sides have players away for much of the summer at different times but that's not a problem for the Foxes. They've started the season well and I don't think they are too far away from being a very capable one day side either. With a bit of luck here and there and a good result here and there this 11/1 shot should give us a good run for our money. Either way I'd have this more a 6/1 or 7/1 shot than 11/1 so with the value in mind I'll take Hoggard's men to surprise a few in this tricky looking group.