Kent vs Hampshire, VITALITY T20 BLAST 2020, Today Match Prediction

kent vs ham Match Prediction & Analysis

Vitality T20 Blast is the pioneer for T20 cricket that was started in 2004. The T20 Blast is deprived of a lot of international stars this season due to the pandemic and it provides a great opportunity for the English players to showcase their talents. Hampshire and Kent will ace against each other in their tournament opener at Canterbury. Both teams failed to qualify for the knockouts last season and will look to make it this time around. They will look to win their opening encounter and go into the new season with momentum on their side.

TEAMS PREVIEW

Kent Preview

Kent team has a strong batting contingent with the likes of Sam Billings, Zak Crawley, Daniel Bell Drummond, Heino Kuhn, and Joe Denly in their ranks. Their regular skipper Faf Du Plessis will not available this season and Sam Billings is expected to lead the team. He too alongside Joe Denly miss the early part of tournament owing to their national duties.

Bowling is weakened with the likes of Adam Milne, Hardus Viljoin, and Mohammed Nabi will not be available for the team.  Tim Groenewald, Fred Klassen, and Grant Stewart will take care the fast bowling duties alongside spinner Imran Quayyum for their company this year.

Top players to bet on:

Zak Crawley – Zak Crawly comes into the league after playing his innings of life-time scoring 267 runs against Pakistan in the test match. He will be high on confidence and will look to continue his good form in this T20 season too.

Tim Groenewald – Groenewald is their experienced bowler currently with look to lead the pace attack in the absence of Milne and Viljoin. He has played over 100 T20 matches so far.

Kent Predicted Playing XI:

Daniel Bell-Drummond (C), Zak Crawley, Jordan Cox, Ollie Robinson (Wk), Heino Kuhn, Alex Blake, Jack Leaning, Grant Stewart, Fred Klaassen, Tim Groenewald, Imran Qayyum

Kent Actual Playing XI:

Daniel Bell-Drummond, Oliver Robinson, Imran Qayyum, Matt Milnes, Grant Stewart, Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley, Fred Klaassen, Alex Blake, Calum Haggett, Jack Leaning

Hampshire Preview

Hampshire has taken a huge beating due to the Covid and injury concerns with players such as Kyle Abbott, Tabraiz Shamsi, Rilee Rossouw, Liam Dawson, and Chris Morris not available this season.  James Vince, Ian Holland, Sam Northeast, and new recruit George Munsey must do the bulk of scoring for the team this season.

Chris Wood is expected to lead the pace attack with the likes of Ryan Stevenson and James Fuller for company. Mason Crane will have a big burden with Liam Dawson missing out due to injury.  They have a fairly new and inexperienced bowling attack this year.

Top players to bet on:

James Vince – James Vince fell out of England selector`s radar and will need to prove his capabilities with good knocks in the T20 blast. He scored over 400 runs last year at a strike rate of 130+.

Chris Wood – Chris Wood took 14 wickets at an economy rate of 7.94 RPO last season. He is need to take more wickets this season at the top with the other pacers missing in the team.

Hampshire Predicted Playing XI:

James Vince (C), George Munsey, Nye Donald, Ian Holland, Tom Alsop, Sam Northeast, Chris Wood, James Fuller, Mason Crane, Ryan Stevenson

Hampshire Actual Playing XI:

George Munsey, Ryan Stevenson, Mason Crane, Scott Currie, Ian Holland, Joe Weatherley, Sam Northeast, James Fuller, Lewis McManus, Tom Alsop, CP Wood

PITCH AND WEATHER CONDITIONS

Weather Conditions

Canterbury is expected to have bright sunshine on the match day and we expect no weather interruptions whatsoever in this match.

Venue Details

Canterbury has a good balance between the bat and ball with the advantage slightly in the favor of batsmen. We can expect average scores around 160-180 runs on this pitch and anything above it will be a par score.

Toss: To Bat

Teams batting first won all the matches with result last year and pitch is expected to spice up as the match progresses. We expect both captains to bat first if they win the toss.