Cricket-Match-Special ... A forum for discussion

All kicks off again on Friday, with seven matches taking place.

Back to being in a single block format (although with one round of CC matches squeezed in!), and for once no real gap after the group stages: final round of group matches is Friday 18 August; QFs are Tuesday 22 to Friday 25; Finals Day is Saturday 2 September.

England test players can pretty much be ruled out prior to Finals Day, other than maybe the round of fixtures on (or close to) Sunday 23 July and maybe the early QFs. On the flip side, there isn't a single England limited-overs match during the entire period.

Skybet have the following odds:

Surrey 7/1
Notts 8/1
Yorkshire 8/1
Essex 10/1
Hants 10/1
Middlesex 11/1
Lancs 12/1
Warwickshire ("Birmingham") 12/1
Somerset 14/1
Northants 14/1
Durham 16/1
Sussex 16/1
Kent 16/1
Gloucs 16/1
Worcs 22/1
Glamorgan 25/1
Derby 40/1
Leics 40/1

I would suggest that Notts, Surrey and Yorks are all nailed on for the QFs. Cannot see how any of them won't make it. Other five places are not as nailed on, but I will go with Lancs, Essex, Hants and, um, Northants and Middlesex.

In terms of players:

SURREY
Overseas: Finch, Sangakarra/Henriques (Henriques to cover for when Sangakarra is at the CPL)
England: Roy available. Could lose Stoneman or Foakes to a test call up.
Other: KP will rejoin Surrey for the competition

NOTTS
Overseas: Christian, Sodhi. (I understand that yesterday was Pattinson's final game for Notts)
England: Hales available. Broad unavailable.

YORKSHIRE
Overseas: Handscombe, S Marsh
England: Rashid, Plunkett and Willey available. Root and Bairstow unavailable.
Other: Kohler-Cadmore will be available to make his white-ball debut.

ESSEX
Overseas: Amir. Not aware that they have signed a second one.
England: Cook unavailable.

HANTS
Overseas: Bailey, Afridi
England: Dawson could be unavailable.

MIDDLESEX
Overseas: Southee, McCullum/Voges (Voges to replace McCullum when he goes to the CPL)
England: Morgan available. TRJ could be unavailable. Could lose Finn to a test call up.

LANCS
Overseas: Junaid Khan, McLaren
England: Jimmy unavailable. Could lose Buttler to a test call up.
Other: Jayawardene has pulled out of deal to join them as a non-overseas player.

WARWICKSHIRE
Overseas: Patel, de Grandhomme
England: Woakes unavailable/injured.
Other: Grant Elliot has joined as a t20 only kolpak

SOMERSET
Overseas: Anderson. Dean Elgar is of course their main overseas player - I am not aware that they intend to replace him whilst he is on test duty with SA.
England: None

DURHAM
Overseas: Latham. I'm not aware that they have announced a second overseas.
England: Stokes, Jennings and Wood unavailable

SUSSEX
Overseas: Taylor (captain). As well Somerset and Elgar, I am not sure if Sussex intend to replace Philander.
England: Jordan is available.

KENT
Overseas: Milne and Neesham
England: Billings is available.

GLOUCS
Overseas: At the moment it appears to be Klinger and Bancroft. But they were due to have Tye, and when he pulled out injured Gloucs did say they might sign a replacement.
England: None

WORCS
Overseas: Hastings, Santner
England: Moeen is unavailable

GLAMORGAN
Overseas: Rudolph. I'm not aware that they have announced a second overseas.
England: N/A

DERBY
Overseas: Tahir, Henry
England: N/A

LEICES
Overseas: McKay, Ronchi
England: N/A

Latham is out for a few weeks, with no replacement up to now

how on earth can Jayawardene sign as a non overseas player? Ridiculous!

I know we're often overlooked but really only 17 teams reviewed?

DiligentDefence wrote:I know we're often overlooked but really only 17 teams reviewed?

My apologies! I did pick you for the QFs, so didn't overlook you entirely!

NORTHANTS
Overseas: Kleinveldt and Prasanna
England: Could lose Duckett to a test call up.

Durhamfootman wrote:Latham is out for a few weeks, with no replacement up to now

how on earth can Jayawardene sign as a non overseas player? Ridiculous!

Married to a Danish woman, I think was the reasoning. Not that it matters now, given he has had to pull out.

st_brendy wrote:
Married to a Danish woman, I think was the reasoning. Not that it matters now, given he has had to pull out.

still ridiculous

Not a great start for Middlesex's new kiwi t20 revolution.

Maybe they were taken by surprise by a random 2.30 Friday start like everyone else.

Oli Stone is in the Warks team I see. If I'm not mistaken, this must be his first game back since his bad injury with Northants about two years ago.

Good luck to him.

st_brendy wrote:Not a great start for Middlesex's new kiwi t20 revolution.

Maybe they were taken by surprise by a random 2.30 Friday start like everyone else.

not out of it yet, this Higgins guy is making a go of it

scores tied after Middlesex not getting the one run they needed off the last ball

super-over i assume

edit : or is it just a draw and share of the points in the group games ?

rich1uk wrote:scores tied after Middlesex not getting the one run they needed off the last ball

super-over i assume

Tie is a tie in the group stage.

God knows how Middlesex feel. They never should have got anywhere close; should have been smashed after losing their 8th wicket. But they failed to get the single to win the match.

st_brendy wrote:

rich1uk wrote:scores tied after Middlesex not getting the one run they needed off the last ball

super-over i assume

Tie is a tie in the group stage.

God knows how Middlesex feel. They never should have got anywhere close; should have been smashed after losing their 8th wicket. But they failed to get the single to win the match.

snatched a draw from the jaws of victory after it already being chewed on by defeat

Stupid to just have a tie. That's what super overs are for.

Never been so angry as the time that Kent tied with Lancashire in the QFs and went out on number of wickets lost...

Whereas I love the rule, having won a final on fewest wickets lost, but lost a SF on a super-over.

(Not that it applies to the group stage; decide by super over vs decide by number of wickets lost. We don't live in America, not every match has to have a winner. I'm perfectly happy for ties and draws to exist in sport)

might be biased coz he is in my FL team but that was a stinker of a decision by the umpire to give Roy out

it was missing the stumps by about 6 inches and didn't even hit him in line