Somerset vs Kent, Royal London One-Day Cup, Today Match Prediction 19 Apr 2019

som vs kent Match Prediction & Analysis

All the teams in South Group of Royal London ODI cup have played their first match except the Somerset team. They take on the Kent in their tournament opener at Taunton.

Somerset finished in fourth position last season narrowly missing out on the play-off qualification. They will be looking to perform better this year. James Hildreth and Peter Trego were their top run scorers and played well throughout the season. They both were the only two centurions from their team last season. On the bowling front Craig Overton and Tim Groenewald were amongst the wickets but gave away runs at a high economy rate of nearing 6 RPO. They will dearly miss the services of their star all rounder Sam Curran this season as he is busy in IPL 2019.  

Kent team lost their first match to the defending champions Hampshire by 90 runs. Their batsmen got starts with scores of 20s and 30s but neither of them continued to make at least a fifty. Opener Zak Crawley was the high scorer with 49 runs but he was unlucky run-out one short of his fifty. All the batsmen between positions 5-9 scored 20+ runs but neither of them converted the start.

Their bowlers leaked runs the death and left 310 runs in their fifty overs. Matt Milnes captured 5 wickets and was highest wicket taker last match. Harry Podmore and Darren Stevens were economical with the ball but failed to take wickets and it helped the opposition to go berserk in the middle and end overs. They ned to restrict the opposition to low score to win the matches. 

TEAMS PREVIEW

Somerset Preview

Key Players:

Peter Trego – Trego had an excellent season last year scoring 376 runs at an average of 47 and took 7 wickets at an economy of 4.88 RPO. He will look to utilize his all-round skills to help his team win. 

Tim Groenewald – He took 9 wickets in just 4 matches he played last season. He is a wicket taking bowler and has vast experience in the county circuit. He will be playing mmajor role this year if his team needs to qualify for play-offs. 

Recent Stats 

James Hilderth – 438 runs Avg. 62.6, Strike rate - 98 (Hs-159, 50s-2, 100s-1)

Craig Overturn – 12 wickets, Avg – 28, Economy -6 RPO (BB -4/27)

Somerset Predicted Playing XI:

James Hildreth, Roelof van der Merwe, Tom Abell, Steven Davies (wk), Peter Trego, Lewis Gregory (c), Johann Myburgh, Craig Overton, Paul van Meekeren, Ben Green, Dominic Bess

Kent Preview

Key Players:

Heino Kuhn – Kent skipper was run-out before opening his account last match and it was one of the turning points in the chase. He needs to bat long in the middle over’s to put pressure o the opposition bowling. .  

Harry Podmore –Podmore was able to contain the batsmen and gave away runs at less than 5 RPO when rest of the bowling was going at a higher economy. He also scored a valiant 40 runs down the batting order. 

This season:

Zak Crawley – 49 runs, 51 balls, 6X4s

Matt Milnes – bowling figures of 10-0-79-5

Kent Predicted Playing XI:

Daniel Bell-Drummond, Zak Crawley, Matt Renshaw, Heino Kuhn (c), Alex Blake, Adam Rouse (wk), Darren Stevens, Fred Klaassen, Harry Podmore, Matt Milnes, Imran Qayyum

Weather Conditions

Taunton pitch is also known to aid batsmen but as the tournament progresses bowlers may find some support in a used pitches. Teams score freely in the first innings and may grip and turn in the second essay. Average score in this pitch is 300 run s and anything less than that will be an easy chase. The match day promises to be sunny with no chances of rain.

Toss: WIN the toss, BAT First

Teams batting first has won all the matches played here last season(3 wins). The ball might help the bowlers late in the day. So both captains will look to utilize the used pitch in the second innings while bowling.