T20 Blast Preview: Middlesex, Glamorgan and Nottinghamshire all begin at home

The 2019 Vitality T20 Blast gets underway tomorrow night with a jam-packed evening of action.

The reigning champions, the Worcestershire Rapids, head to Trent Bridge to face the Notts Outlaws in the day’s televised fixture by Sky Sports; meanwhile, County Championship Division One leaders Essex head to Lords to take on Middlesex and one-day cup winners Somerset are in action against Glamorgan in Wales

Middlesex v Essex Eagles, Lords

Middlesex open their T20 Blast account at home to the Essex Eagles. The Eagles are one of the competition’s more unfortunate sides having reached four Finals Days – their most recent occurring in 2013 – but have failed to progress beyond lunch in each visit.

Essex will, however, be boosted once more by the assets of Mohammad Amir and Cameron Delport. Pakistani bowler Amir rejoins the Eagles having recently featured for his country at this year’s Cricket World Cup where he took seventeen wickets. Meanwhile, Delport’s 49-ball ton for Islamabad United in the Pakistan Super League in March proves how much of a danger he can be with the bat.

The hosts do, however, have South Africa’s AB de Villiers and Afghanistan’s Mujeeb ur Rahman in their squad. The talented duo will add an extra element to a Middlesex side who showed an improvement in their fifty-over white-ball campaign earlier this year as they reached the quarter-final stage.

Glamorgan v Somerset, Sophia Gardens Cardiff

Somerset, one of last season’s final-four, will aim to be successful once more this year – and add to their trophy cabinet after winning the 50-over one-day cup – as they begin their campaign in Wales.

Having beaten Hampshire in the final at Lords in March, Somerset Head Coach Jason Kerr will no doubt hope to have a strong start to their twenty-over white-ball campaign in order to boost their early chances of progressing to the knock-out stages.

The West Country side already have big-hitter Colin Ingram in their squad; although, Kerr has added to his options by signing the world number one ranked IT20 batsman, Babar Azam. However, Azam will face a familiar friend in the form of Fakhar Zaman. The 29-year-old signed for Glamorgan just a day ago and is likely to play a role for the Welsh side.

Glamorgan have reached only two Finals Days. But Robert Croft’s side should not be seen as easy targets having suffered defeat just once in their County Championship Division Two campaign thus far, therefore putting themselves in a good position to challenge Lancashire for promotion.

Notts Outlaws v Worcestershire Rapids, Trent Bridge

Worcestershire beat Sussex by five wickets to win their first T20 title last year and the reigning champions will be desperate to get a win under their belts early on this term.

Last year’s champions head to Trent Bridge to open their campaign; however, both sides enter the fixture in rotten form transferred from their respective County Championship offerings. Notts are yet to win in Division One and sit rock bottom of the standings with just 48 points, 38 points behind their nearest rivals Warwickshire. Meanwhile, Worcestershire have suffered a similar fate with the red-ball and have won only two of their nine matches thus far.

The Rapids have enjoyed success in the other format of white-ball cricket this season though as they reached the semi-final stage, where they were beaten by eventual champions Somerset.

England star Moeen Ali will return in time to lead the Rapids in the evening’s televised fixture by Sky Sports; Dan Christian is expected to make his first appearances of the season for the Outlaws, Alex Hales and Harry Gurney are also set to play a key role.