Cricket T20 Blast 2016

The domestic tournament starts tonight and going with SOMERSET ( 8's - 10's range ) on the outright market. Was tempted to wait a while as neither Jayawardene or Chris Gayle are yet available, but there are still plenty of quick scorers in the team. Yasir Arafat will lead the attack and whilst the bowling maybe looks a shade weak, I feel that no score would be too big for them to get, especially when they are at full strength

Sussex v Somerset at 6,30 today, which means that Chris Gayle, Mahela Jayawardene, Luke Wright, Chris Jordan and Ross Taylor will all be on show. Both teams bat deep as well, so could easily be a run fest. Not getting too involved in the betting, but going with the Somerset All Rounder Roelof Van Der Merwe to be man of the match at 12's. Best known for his hard hitting batting, he is also a more than useful spinner and an excellent fielder.

Might just be a case of right club, wrong competition, as Somerset are going into the last round of the County championship with a live chance of coming away with the trophy. As it stands, Middlesex are top with 213 points, with Yorkshire in second spot on 204 and Somerset a point futher back on 203. On the face of it, things look tough for the " Cidermen " but Middlesex actually face Yorkshire in the final round of matches, whilst Somerset play already relegated Notts. Numerous equations are possible, but if Middlesex win then they are champs. For Yorkshire to guarantee the title, they need a win with maximum Bonus Points. For Somerset to triumph, the easiest way would be to procure a win with maximum bonus points and watch the other match end in a draw. Should it come down to it a Somerset win and drawn match at Lords, would also give them the tie breaker edge over both teams as they would have won more games.

Obviously the 4 day County game does not get much coverage, but this Year looks exciting and with bonus points available as well as points for drawing and winning, then the situation could change a heck of a lot

Middlesex v Yorkshire, live on SKY from Tuesday

I'm a bit surprised to see Surrey favs for the one day final.

They struggled through to the final with a couple of close games in the knockout stages whereas Warwickshire won both their games at this stage a bit more easily.

Surrey have just had a hard four day game in Durham and a long journey back whereas Warwick have had the week off

I would make Warwickshire favs here so I'll go a couple of points on them at 2.08 on Betfair

Spot on so far Colbro. Surrey 129-9, with 12 overs remaining.

If only betting were always this easy

Bit of controversy before a ball is bowled, with Yorkshireman Jonny Bairstow being refused permission to play by the ECB. Although not a centrally contracted player for the last 12 months, the Tykes still required clearance to play Bairstow and this was not forthcoming. For the conspiracy theorists out there, one of the guys who made the decision was the Director of English Cricket Andrew Strauss who just happens to be a former Middlesex player. Just to add a bit of extra spice, the England fast bowler ( and fellow Bangladesh tourist ) Steven Finn, will be playing for the hosts.

Just to make life even harder for Yorkshire, Jake Lehmann has been recalled by South Australia and England one - day spinner Adil Rashid has requsted to miss the match ahead of a busy winter schedule.

Middlesex crowned champions after bowling Yorkshire out deep into the last day. Whilst there was plenty going on before the match, the controversy had only just begun. A draw was no good for either as Somerset had already won and so with the game going nowhere organically, the two captains got together, to contrive a result. Yorkshire then employed " joke " bowlers to move the scoring along and Yorkshire were left chasing 240 off 40 overs. Whilst it was in the balance for some time ( indeed the draw and Somerset title victory went odds on with Betfar ) Middlesex took charge late on with the last 4 wickets falling quickly. What really made things interesting was the admission, that as part of the deal, Yorkshire had stated that they would go for the runs all the way ( seemingly even if they had no realistic chance ) Now declaration bowling was part of the game back when it was over 3 days, but never heard of anything like this before. One wonders if as part of the deal, the Middlesex captain promised not to bowl defensively if Yorks were on top. In fact in the post match interview, James Franklin ( captain ) was very sheepish and declined to go into too much detail. Plenty of talk around on Social Media and indeed Radio Five Live flagged it up early. Whatever the circumstances it was a tremendous watch, but the slight stench may just linger.