Two of the worst teams in the competition meet in front of the Sky cameras tonight as Middlesex return to Lord’s after a spell at Merchant Taylor School and Radlett to take on the Sussex Sharks. It might not be a preview of a Final’s Day encounter but let’s take a look at the action…
Middlesex vs Sussex Predictions & Betting Tips
- Back Sussex to win at 4/6
- Back Ravi Bopara to be the top Sussex wicket taker at 10/1
When you are halfway through the group stage and have yet to taste anything other than defeat, it would be fair to say that the tournament hasn’t exactly been a rip roaring success. This is exactly how Middlesex are looking at things although they really should have beaten defending champions Hampshire on Tuesday afternoon.
Having restricted the visitors to a seriously under-par score of 164 on the small field at Radlett, you would have fancied them to knock off the runs with relative ease but a strong debut from John Turner send both openers back to the hutch without troubling the scorers and wickets kept falling at inopportune moments to see the hosts fall short. Any other side in the Blast wins that game. Things are just going that poorly for Stevie Eskinazi’s side at the moment.
Sussex themselves were on the TV last Saturday night and they were without their captain Ravi Bopara due to traffic issues following a crash on the M27. That coupled with the resting of Tymal Mills gave the away team an uphill battle but losing by ten wickets is really not a good look.
If Middlesex have yet to win so far in the T20 Blast then Sussex have only gone one better but their solitary win was at The Oval where they beat one of the favourites to lift the trophy, Surrey. It was their two best players in Mills and Bopara that really helped that day, keeping the big hitting side down to 148 in their innings, going five for 41 from their seven overs. Really impressive stuff.
Bopara took three wickets that afternoon to be their top wicket taker but he’s the outsider in that market on Thursday coming in at a whopping 10/1. That is a straight up value play right there.
I like Sussex to double their win tally for the year and condemn Middlesex to their eighth defeat on the spin in this year’s Blast. Sussex can be backed at 4/6 to win the game.
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