Cricket betting tips: Preview and best bets for T20 Blast Finals Day live on Sky Sports

Cricket tips: T20 Blast Finals Day

2pts Sonny Baker to take two wickets or more against Nottinghamshire at 13/8 (bet365)

1pt No fifty in the Hampshire/Nottinghamshire match at 11/2 (bet365)

*Already advised 2pts Northamptonshire to win the T20 Blast at 13/2

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Sporting headlines were dominated by the football on Wednesday and England’s achingly familiar defeat to Argentina in the semi-finals of the World Cup.

For fans of English cricket, perhaps the irony of events won’t have been lost of them, manager Thomas Tuchel allowing his team to surrender a position of strength with a number of negative tactical decisions that his team were made to pay for.

England needed to be braver, ‘to run towards the danger’ even, as Brendon McCullum, only this week himself sacked as Test coach, would have argued. Dare I say it, England needed a dose of Bazball on their bench in Atlanta.

But you haven’t landed on these pages for my football analysis, and earlier on Wednesday the T20 Blast produced more dramatic storylines as Somerset and Craig Overton pulled off one of the most dramatic heists imaginable in beating Yorkshire, while Nottinghamshire produced an impressive comeback of their own to down Surrey on quarter-finals day.

The Blast has its detractors, but the tournament continues to deliver wonderful cricket, high-quality fare, too, and so many thrilling matches that we just didn’t see in The Hundred last summer. Though imperfect in so many ways, the Blast remains a treasure.

And in bringing Finals Day forward to the middle of July, this coming Saturday to precise, the competition has been given a welcome boost. With the weather forecast again excellent, we should be in for a terrific day at Edgbaston with Somerset, Northamptonshire, Hampshire and Nottinghamshire the four counties left standing.

Lynn key to Northants chances

It’s Somerset versus Northamptonshire first up at 11:00, with Northants now best price 3/1 to lift the trophy having been advised on these pages at 13/2 earlier the week.

I’m happy with our position, though not as happy as I would have been were David Willey’s side facing Yorkshire and not the defending champions in the last four, while an injury scare to star batsman Chris Lynn is far from ideal.

Northants appear confident that the blow Lynn took on his foot while batting in Wednesday’s comfortable victory over Gloucestershire is not a bone break and that he will be fine for Finals Day, but there are no guarantees at this stage and it’s hard to see Northants winning without him.

Remember, Lynn was instrumental in Hampshire reaching the final last year, and his 475 runs for Northants this season have come at an average of 52.77. This is far from a one-man band, with Willey, Ricardo Vasconcelos and Nathan McSweeney making up a strong top four, but Lynn is clearly the main the man.

Somerset are evidently very good, with a powerful batting line-up and a well-drilled and experienced bowling line-up that might actually be its strongest suit. But as Yorkshire proved, they are fallible themselves, and Northants did finish above them in the group stage this season.

Spin key for Nottinghamshire

It’s fingers crossed on that one, before Hampshire and Nottinghamshire lock horns at 14:30.

It will be interesting to see how the wicket at Edgbaston plays, given the extended recent hot spell might make for a dry surface. The ODI here earlier in the week wasn’t played on the usual road we have come to expect on this ground, though it must be said that England didn’t help themselves with the bat.

If it does spin, that might better suit Nottinghamshire who have two excellent left-arm spinners in George Linde and Liam Patterson-White, along with the canny variations of Benny Howell. With Mohammad Amir and Olly Stone in there as well, it’s a pretty good attack all round.

Such conditions could give Nottinghamshire the edge, with six out of Hampshire’s top seven right-handers, handing Notts a potential advantage in terms of match-ups for those spinners.

I’m still not totally convinced by Nottinghamshire’s own batting, however, so want to have another crack at NO FIFTY IN THE MATCH.

The 11/2 with bet365 is currently the best available, with BOYLE Sports going 5/1, but expect more firms to price up this market closer to Saturday.

Bank on Baker

Keeping bowlers in mind, I'll be backing SONNY BAKER TO TAKE TWO WICKETS OR MORE IN THE MATCH.

Baker is enjoying a summer to remember, including making his Test debut for England last month, and has taken 15 wickets from just six appearances in this competition, with an outstanding strike-rate of just 9.1.

This bet would’ve been a winner in each of Baker’s last four bowling innings, and I’m keen to get the wholehearted Hampshire paceman in the staking plan.

Posted at 13:35 BST on 16/07/26

ALSO READ: Richard Mann's outright preview of The Hundred

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