T20 Blast Finals tips: Lancashire favourites as Buttler returns
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After another thrilling summer of cork-smashing, boundary-hitting cricket, it’s T20 Blast Finals day.
Four teams remain, but only one will be crowned winner at Edgbaston this Saturday.
Lancashire Lightning are the 9/4 favourites, ahead of Sussex Sharks at 5/2. The outsiders are 11/4 shots Somerset and Worcestershire Rapids at 10/3.
Ahead of the action, we’ve previewed both semi-finals…
Lancashire Lightning v Worcestershire Rapids
Lancashire beat Kent by six wickets in the quarter-finals, while the Rapids saw off Gloucestershire with five wickets to spare.
There’ll be fireworks here as England international Jos Buttler returns to Lancashire, while Moeen Ali is back for Worcestershire.
Rapids beat the Red Rose in the opening round of the campaign, but it’s the Old Trafford outfit who are favourites to go through at 8/11. Worcestershire are 11/10.
Ali is 9/4 favourite to top score for the Rapids, with Joe Clarke – compared by many to Joe Root, is 3/1.
Buttler takes runscorer favouritism at 2/1 for Lancs, while Liam Livingstone and Keaton Jennings are hoping to bag a spot in England’s tour of Sri Lanka this month, so their need to impress could well see Lancashire prevail.
Somerset v Sussex Sharks
The second semi looks a touch more finely poised, with Sussex landing the favourites tag at 4/5. Somerset are the relative underdogs at Evens.
That’s despite the Taunton outfit winning 10 of their 14 league games – the best this season. That includes a four-wicket run over the Sharks in early August.
Sussex’s hopes to reverse that result this weekend have been dealt a blow however, with Rashid Khan – ranked the best T20 bowler in the world – absent through international duty with Afghanistan.
James Hildreth, Johann Myburgh and Peter Trego are each 7/2 favourites to top score for Somerset, with Laurie Evans and Luke Wright 3/1 to do likewise for the Sharks.
Evans could be the difference-maker. The 30-year-old has been excellent throughout for Sussex, averaging 79 with five half-centuries in his 12 innings this year.
Our verdict
Somerset have got the job done throughout the summer, but do they have that star quality to go all the way?
Worcestershire will need to hope Ali has brought his international form back into the domestic game, while Sussex will need to get by without star man Khan. But in Evans, they have one of this year’s best T20 batters.
That leaves Lancashire who, with the returning Buttler, might just be too strong for the rest.
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All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing
