Hampshire v Sussex: T20 Blast betting preview, TV channel, team news and tip

TV: Sky Sports Cricket, 7pm Friday

The Rose Bowl

The first televised South Group game of the T20 Blast season should be a cracker as Sussex, last season's runners-up, travel to a Hampshire side who are always competitive in white-ball cricket.

Sussex were Racing Post Sport's main tip to win the trophy at 8-1 this year but this is a tricky opening fixture for the Sharks and bookmakers are struggling to pick a favourite.

Hampshire's batting is packed with big names but they scored only seven half-centuries in 12 Blast games last season and all-rounder Liam Dawson was their leading runscorer with a tally of 289.

Dawson is a standout 8-1 with Sky Bet to top-score against Sussex but it could be worth taking the same firm's 13-2 that Sharks opener Phil Salt is the top runscorer in the match.

Salt is one of the most exciting young batsmen on the county circuit and he was called up to the England squad as injury cover before May's Twenty20 international against Pakistan.

The hard-hitting right-hander scored four fifties in 14 Blast innings last year but a more eye-catching stat was his strike-rate of 172 – comfortably the best of any Sussex batsman.

This season's highlights include an unbeaten 137 from 106 balls against Kent in the One-Day Cup and back-to-back County Championship tons against Northamptonshire and Glamorgan and Salt is worth backing to pepper the boundaries at the Rose Bowl.

Recommendation
P Salt top match runscorer
1pt 13-2 Sky Bet

Team news
Hampshire
England World Cup winners Liam Dawson and James Vince are available for Hampshire, as is South Africa all-rounder Chris Morris.

Sussex
Chris Jordan (knee) has been rested and Alex Carey is on Australia A duty but Afghan ace Rashid Khan and left-arm quicks Tymal Mills and Reece Topley are in the squad.

The rest of Friday's T20 Blast action

Lancashire were beaten by champions Worcestershire in last season's semi-finals but the Lightning, with Australian aces Glenn Maxwell and James Faulkner in their squad, can make a winning start to this term's competition away to Leicestershire.

The Foxes have some talented young players but they finished second-bottom of the North Group in 2018 and they may struggle to slip straight into Twenty20 gear only 24 hours after the end of their County Championship game against Gloucestershire at Cheltenham.

Durham were recommended as lively 25-1 outsiders for the trophy in Racing Post Sport's T20 Blast preview and they can see off Northamptonshire in their opener at the Riverside.

Durham finished level on points with North Group winners Worcestershire in 2018, won four of their six completed matches in the One-Day Cup this season, and the arrival of D'Arcy Short, leading runscorer in the 2018-19 Big Bash, makes them a team to follow.

Recommendations
Lancashire
2pts 4-6 Hills, Paddy Power
Back this bet with William Hill

Durham
1pt 4-5 Hills, Sky Bet
Back this bet with bet365

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