2023 T20 Blast Tips
Somerset were the most impressive cricket team during the T20 Blast regular season, with Jason Kerr’s side able to engineer an amazing twelve wins from fourteen games played. The fact that they lost just two games should bode well for the play-offs and they go up against a Notts Outlaws team who finished fourth in their standings after a more modest eight victories.
Birmingham Bears are the highest-ranked team from the North Division and the Midlands side were similarly impressive during the regular season by chalking up eleven wins from fourteen clashes. That made Mark Robinson’s team comfortably the best outfit, with Essex Eagles now meeting them after landing fourth spot in the South Group.
Lancashire Lightning were able to edge out Worcestershire Rapids to finish second in the North Group, with eight wins achieved by Glen Chapple’s team and they will be slight favourites when clashing with a Surrey team who boasted a similar record when finishing third in their particular regional section.
Finally, the Worcestershire Rapids will be aiming to cause a few problems to Hampshire Hawks, with the latter having won nine of their fourteen matches to earn second spot in the South Group. There could be a close encounter at the Rose Bowl in Southampton, with the winner of this clash likely to meet Birmingham in the semi-finals.
Bet on the 2020 T20 Blast
Twenty20 cricket has never been so popular and it’s a format of the game which lends itself well to online betting. You can enjoy a pre-match bet on the T20 Blast matches which take place or alternatively have an In-Play wager on the action, with the odds rapcriidly changing according to what’s happening on the pitch.
The T20 Blast was first launched in 2003 and there have been a succession of winners over the past few years, with English and Welsh counties competing in a round robin format before we get to a play-off stage where the teams battle it out to be crowned champions.
The 2020 T20 Blast is now underway and we’re able to follow the action on a match-by-match basis, with Notts Outlaws making an encouraging start to the season with a string of wins.
The History of the T20 Blast
The T20 Blast actually started as the Twenty20 Cup and it has evolved over time to be a leading competition in English cricket. The eighteen counties in England and Wales compete in a regionalised group stage before the most successful teams go through to play in the play-offs.
Up until recently, the T20 Blast teams have been split into a Northern Division and a Southern Division, although this has now changed into a Three Division split due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Surrey were the first winners of the Twenty20 Blast when beating Warwickshire Bears in the 2003 final at Trent Bridge, while Leicestershire Foxes were victorious in 2004 and 2006 and those wins sandwiched a victory for Somerset Sabres in 2005.
More recently, we have seen Notts Outlaws, Worcestershire Rapids and Essex Eagles land victory and the fact that there have been so many different winners show how competitive and unpredictable this competition can be.
How to Bet on the T20 Blast
The T20 Blast is a cricket betting competition that is covered by all the major online bookies, with the latest T20 Blast betting coupon now available and you can either choose to put together an accumulator on the latest teams or alternatively choose to bet on the individual matches.
The “To Win the Match” betting market is the most popular which is a two-way market, although there is alternatively the option to bet on cricket markets such as Top Team Batsman, Top Team Bowler and you can even bet on Batsman Match Runs.
There is also the option to bet In-Play on the latest T20 Blast cricket matches and you can follow the latest odds as they update in real time. In-Play betting on cricket can be highly exciting and there’s the option to potentially Cash Out for a profit.
The new TV deal in cricket looks set to bring some big changes to the T20 game but for now the T20 Blast is the main event in UK county cricket. T20 generally, and especially the English and Wales domestic competition, remains in its infancy.
The first T20 competition in England came in 2003 with the T20 Cup. This was revamped in 2010 as the Friends Life T20. The T20 Blast itself was only founded in 2014 but already it has proved a big hit, with fans, players and those that like to bet on cricket. If you fall into the latter category, be sure to make use of our odds comparison. This live odds feed helps you find the biggest and best odds for all your cricket bets. We’ve got all the major events, competitions and games covered so maximising your returns has never been easier.
The competition begins in a league format in July, with a North and South division of nine teams each. The top four sides from each group go through to the quarters before the showpiece finals day which sees two semis and the final itself played. This year finals day is set to be at Edgbaston on the 2nd September but there are a lot of sixes to be hit before then.
During the group phase, each side plays 14 games. They play six divisional rivals home and away and two other teams just once, one at home and one on the road. There are some top overseas players taking part this year. Names such as Imran Tahir, Aaron Finch, Kumar Sangakarra, Corey Anderson, Brendon McCullum, Luke Ronchi and Shahid Afridi bring a real international flavour and star quality to the T20 Blast.
The best England players tend to feature only sporadically but usually get released for finals day should their teams make it that far. Northants won the final Friends Life T20 in 2013 and were runners up two years ago before triumphing again last year. That’s serious pedigree in what is often an unpredictable format. If you fancy the Steelbacks to go well again they can be backed at best betting odds of 12/1 with William Hill.
The favourites right now are Surrey at 13/2, Hampshire at 7/1, Warwickshire at 8/1 and Yorkshire at 10/1. Surrey are worthy favourites and won the domestic T20 competition in its inaugural year. However, they didn’t make it out of the group phase last term or the year before that and we don’t think they have shown enough to justify such short odds.
Instead our main betting tip for this year’s T20 Blast is to back the side which beat them in the final of this season’s 50 over cup, Nottinghamshire. Notts have a powerful batting line-up and if Alex Hales features regularly we think they can complete a fine double by adding the T20 Blast trophy to their cabinet. The Outlaws are priced at odds of 10/1 with Coral and that looks big to us.