- Lancashire Lightning v Durham - North Group, 6.30pm, Emirates Old Trafford
- Hampshire Hawks v Surrey - South Group, 7pm, Utilita Bowl
These are two mouthwatering fixtures to kick off this season’s Blast.
It features two counties, Lancashire and Hampshire, who have 19 Finals Day appearances between them.
In Durham and Surrey, here’s two counties who haven’t really lived up to expectation in T20 cricket. Durham, for example, have only reached the quarter-finals once in the last seven attempts, while Surrey’s strength has come in four-day cricket. The county champions have only won this event once.
That’s the same amount as Lancashire, to be fair, but at least they have challenged time and time again. Hampshire are three-time champions, Durham have never won it but are expected to go close to breaking that duck this summer.
They will hope their Bournemouth FC away-style kit brings them a bit of luck!
Cricket Betting Offers
Lancashire v Durham, 6.30pm - North Group
If Durham win this opener against 2015 winners Lancashire - a team who has reached nine Finals Days - then people will sit up and take notice. They are 10/11 to do so with William Hill.
I expect them to win, despite Lancashire being incredibly strong at home.
Since the start of the 2021 summer, the only T20 match they’ve lost at their Old Trafford home was last year’s quarter-final tie with Surrey. Over the same period, they’ve won 16 matches.
However, the Lightning head into 2024 in a completely different position.
Last season, they fielded Jos Buttler, Tom Hartley, Liam Livingstone and Phil Salt for much of the campaign. They are all on England duty preparing for the T20 World Cup.
Durham, as I said in my T20 Blast tournament preview, have strengthened significantly ahead of this summer, signing domestic duo Colin Ackermann and Callum Parkinson from Leicestershire and adding overseas T20 stalwarts Ben Dwarshuis and Ashton Turner, the Australian duo.
I expect Durham wicketkeeper-batter Ollie Robinson to have a good night. He was their leading run-scorer last season in this competition and could very well bat in the top three.
He opened in pre-season when they won the Zimbabwe domestic T20 campaign in March. He’s 5/6 with William Hill to score over 15.5 runs.
Sandwiched in between another Robinson bet, I will suggest you consider Luke Wells to be Lancashire’s top run-scorer at 9/2 with betfair.
There’s a decent chance he opens the batting, and that’s a great price. His career stats aren’t amazing. He has scored only two fifties in 31 matches since moving to Lancashire from Sussex ahead of 2021. But he has the ability to take any attack apart.
Back to Robinson, and 11/2 with betfair to be his side’s top run-scorer.
He scored a second-innings 171 not out in a Championship defeat against Lancashire earlier this month.
Hampshire v Surrey, 7pm - South Group
I have to admit, I have concerns over Surrey, especially in the first half of the competition, given they are missing Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Chris Jordan and Reece Topley, who are all with England.
Hampshire just perform time and time again in T20 cricket, and I expect them to get going quickly with a win here. They are 1/1 with betfair to topple Surrey, just as they did in the County Championship at the weekend.
I’ll be going for Sean Abbott to be Surrey’s top bowler. The Southampton pitch can often be a bit sluggish, and with his skill the experienced Australian seamer could use that to his advantage. He is 2/1 with William Hill to achieve that feat.
James Vince is the leading run-scorer in Blast history with 5,547 runs to his name, reaching or passing 50 on 45 occasions in 182 matches. The Hampshire captain is 12/5 to start this season nicely with another fifty. That’s on offer with William Hill.
Vince has had a disappointing four-day season so far, posting only two fifties in 10 innings. He is due a good day. This could be the competition which kick-starts his season.
Double up on Durham and Hampshire to get off to winning start
William Hill are offering odds of 2.82/1 on the double for opening night victories for both Durham and Hampshire.
Not only would that get their respective campaigns off to a flying start, it would do the same for ours as well as we bid to have a Blast with a tidy profit.
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