Cricket
2008-07-10 - Warwickshire vs Kent
A Sports Betting Pick by chappers
Twenty/20 Quarter Final
Edgbaston, Birmingham, July 9th 17.30pm Live on SKY
Warwickshire
Warwickshire topped the Midlands/West/Wales Division in the group stages and won it in the end by two points from Northamptonshire, they managed to win six of the ten group games while they lost just the once and tied one game and had two non-results.
The only game they lost was against the runner up in the group and this was the last game of the group stages when after winning the toss Warwickshire but Northamptonshire into bat and then found themselves chasing 137 and then seeing themselves come up short as they only managed 124 in their twenty overs. However the divisional title was already in the bag so this game meant more to Northamptonshire than it did for Warwickshire.
Warwickshire are in division two of the county championship and as such don’t have many household names in their line up but Ian Bell has been an England regular for a few years now. They also have the current England wicketkeeper in Ambrose but other than that there isn’t anyone who really stands out (for me anyway). In their batting line up they have Jonathan Trott who has the best average of the batsmen at 42.50 and a top score of 61 not out and with him as the opener, if he starts well then Warwickshire have a good chance of winning the game.
Bowling has seen 38 year old Ian Salisbury top the charts with the best econ rate which currently stands at 5.03 which is very impressive and also with 14 wickets he is also Warwickshire's top wicket taker in this years tournament, with Ant Botha just behind him with 13 wickets and an econ rate of 5.32 so if this two bowlers hit form for the rest of the tournament then Warwickshire could go all the way.
There is also a 24 year old called Tim Groenewald who actually tops the charts in the batting side of things with an average of 86 as he has only been out once in his 9 innings and has a top score of 39 and has also taken 9 wickets so this lad could also have a major say in who wins not only this game but the Twenty/20 cup this year.
Key Players Batting: IJL Trott 20/20 average 42.50 and IJ Westwood 20/20 average 31.50.
Key Players Bowling: IDK Salisbury econ rate 5.03, best 3/14 and AG Botha econ rate 5.32, best 3/15
Kent
Kent made it through to the quarter finals as one of the best placed third teams which came as quite a shock for the current Twenty/20 holders and with a record of six wins and four defeats it doesn’t make good reading for the current champs.
Kent had to beat Sussex in their final match to make sure that they were not knocked out in the group stages and they did this with ease. After winning the toss and going into bat they set Sussex a target of 163 to win and Sussex got nowhere near this target and were all out of 112, as Kent made it through at the expense of both Glamorgan who they piped as one of the third placed teams and Hampshire who ended up a point behind them in their own group.
As I’ve said Kent lost four times in the group stages and two of those defeats came in the last three games when they lost to Surry and Middlesex by the same 6 runs so these close defeats did seem as if it would be the end of the road for the reigning champs, but of course Champions don’t give up their titles easily and Kent will be hoping to make finals day once more with an away win here in the quarter finals.
Kent have three players who stand out in their batting line up and they are Azhar Mahmood who has an average of 39.83 in his ten games so far, but right behind him is Yasir Arafat who stands on 36.33 and finally Joe Denly a young Englishman who has 35.70 average and a high score of 91. So these three players will be key if Kent are to win this game, as they are all more than capable of getting high scores. Speaking of Key I still like the look of Robert Key who for me should be once more knocking on the door of the England squad and in the twenty/20 he has an average of 25.80 so needs to at least improve here as he is only number five on the list of Kent batsman in this tournament.
Bowling for me is letting Kent down a little (however they started great in their last win, which I saw live at the Riverside when they defeated Durham in the fifty over form of the game, but enough about that). Yasir Arafat is the top wicket taker with 16 wickets, which puts him up there with the best of the wicket takers in this year’s tournament. However his econ rate per over is a massive 8.43 so while he is more than capable of getting you out, he is also more than capable of being spanked all over the ground. However Kent do have some other very good bowlers who also take wickets but keep the econ rate down and the most useful at this is James Tredwell who has 15 wickets with a rate of 6.02
Key Players Batting: Azhar Mahmood 20/20 average 39.83 and Yasir Arafat 20/20 average 36.33
Key Players Bowling: JC Tredwell econ rate 6.02, best 3/9 and Yasir Arafat econ rate 8.43, best 4/17.
Verdict
My first thought on this game was to go for Kent as I was impressed with the way they beat Durham on Friday in the fifty over game, but as I’ve written this I've changed my mind which is always a bad thing to do. Anyway I’m going to be backing Warickshire in this game and this comes down to a couple of things. The first one is that Kent are in the final of the Friends Provident and while the final is a while away, I think that this will be on their minds and as such they might not be totally focused on this game.
I also think that the Warwickshire bowling line up will just have the edge as while Kent do take wickets they do give up a lot of runs in the process and again in a tough game to call I'm going to give it to Warwickshire but only just, in what again should be a cracking game of cricket.
The Pick :
Warwickshire to win this match
