Cricket
2008-07-08 - Middlesex vs Lancashire
A Sports Betting Pick by chappers
Twenty/20 Quarter Final
Oval, July 8th 17.30pm Live on SKY
Middlesex
Middlesex won the Southern section by three points from Essex and from their ten games played they won eight and only lost twice. One of the losses did come at home when they were set 134 to win after Hampshire won the toss and went into bat. Middlesex set about winning the match but fell just six runs short and recorded their only home loss in this year Twenty/20.
The other game they lost was away at fellow quarter final team Kent but this was in a reduced game of only eight overs so it could have easily been an Middlesex team who had won ten out ten in the group stages of this years tournament.
Strauss of course made the England test squad and he had played in six of the ten games for Middlesex and while an average of only 14 wont really be missed and even his highest innings of 27 is also nothing to write home about, he is the type of player on his right day can be classed as a match winner.
Udal is the pick of the bowlers with an econ rate of 6.13 and 10 wickets in this 10 games but when you consider that 3 of those game in one game, his econ rate is fine but I would guess he would like to see more wickets come his way.
Key Players Batting: SD Udal 20/20 average 98.0 and DJ Malan 20/20 average 49.25.
Key Players Bowling: SD Udal econ 6.13 best 3/19 and DP Nannes econ 6.61, best 4/28.
Lancashire
Northern Section runners-up Lancashire would have more than likely won the group if it had not been for the last game being rained off when they came to the Riverside and took on Durham. However as things stand they came in second, two points behind league winners Durham and as such have to play away in the quarter final. There group record was six wins and three losses with the one non-result like I’ve said that the Riverside.
The three games that they lost all game within three games of each other and two of those defeats were against Yorkshire when they lost after losing to Durham. This game saw Lancashire set Durham a target of 180 and Durham reached this with an over to spare. In the two defeats by Yorkshire, which were back to back, games for the two counties saw Lancashire once more set a target that was chased down and this time the number was 150 and Yorkshire managed this with two balls left.
In the other game which was at Old Trafford it was Lancashire’s turn to chase down a total which was set by Yorkshire but the 135 was missed by only four runs with Lancashire ending on 131 for 6 from their twenty overs.
Lancashire have a decent batting line-up which has been led by Lou Vincent who so far has played in nine of the ten games and has an average of 38. Andrew Flintoff is one man who can on his day cause people a problem with the bat but so far on the three times he has came to bat he has managed an average of 7 with a top score of 14, so he still have a way to go if he is to get his form back with the bat.
On the bowling side of things, Lancashire have the players that can win you a match with Flintoff, Mahmood and even the aging Cork can cause teams problems. Top of the wicket-taking chart is Simon Marshall with 14 closely followed by Mahmood who has 13. Top econ rate is 34-year-old Glen Chapple who in the four games he has played has gone for 5.61 runs per over.
Key Players Batting: L Vincent 20/20 average 38.14 and MB Loye 20/20 average 34.37.
Key Players Bowling: SI Mahmood econ rate 5.92, best 3/12 and SJ Marshall econ rate 6.18, best 4/21
Verdict
I have a feeling that this game could be a cracker and it is going to be very hard to split these two teams and to be honest, I think I must be mad having a go.
Middlesex have the home advantage and also being winners of their own group you would think might just have the edge going into this game, but the bookies have Lancashire as slight favourites and I’m going to agree with them.
I think the Lancashire bowling attack could help them win this game and with Flintoff knocking back on the door for the current England test team versus South Africa or at least he will want to be considered for the ODI series then he will be hoping to not only prove his fitness once more but take some wickets to prove he is back.
So I’ll be taking Lancashire to make the finals by winning here in what will be a close match so if you do bet in this game, don’t let it be with silly money as this game could go either way to be honest.
The Pick :
Lancashire to win this match
