The Somerset cricket team will be locking horns with Nottinghamshire in the third Quarter-Final match to kick-start their campaign in the second round of the 2023 edition of the T20 Blast. The two teams will be playing against each other on Friday at The Copper Associates County Ground in Taunton.
Somerset is coming into the playoffs following a praise-worthy performance in the league round. They formed a part of the South Group and ended up at the top of the table with 24 points under their belt from 12 victories and just two losses.
The batters were really impressive throughout the competition as they consistently scored over 170 runs in the allotted 20 overs. Will Smeed finished as the top performer for his side with the bat while the team also has good bowlers, including Ish Sodhi, Matt Henry, and Craig Overton.
As far as Nottinghamshire is concerned, they finished in fourth place in the North Group points table courtesy of eight victories and six losses. The team can be a little underconfident on Friday as they ended up losing three of their last five matches.
However, just like Somerset, Nottinghamshire also has a good set of players like Alex Hales, Imad Wasim, and Shaheen Afridi.
What has happened so far?
So far in the T20 Blast 2023, Somerset has been successful in establishing their domination. They also lost just two league matches against Hampshire and Surrey by five and 28 runs respectively after featuring in a total of 14 league games.
The team will be high on momentum as they won their last five games. In their most recent encounter, Somerset defeated Kent by 15 runs.
Speaking of Nottinghamshire, they experienced a different ride towards the end of the T20 Blast 2023 league round. The side lost as many as three games out of their last five matches. However, they managed to redeem themselves in their last game by dismissing Leicestershire by four runs.
Head to Head Record
Somerset has an edge over Nottinghamshire in the head-to-head record
Nottinghamshire and Somerset have played a total of four matches against each other in the shortest format of the game. Somerset are the ones leading the head-to-head records with three victories to their name while Nottinghamshire scored a win in only one match.
Somerset and Nottinghamshire last played against each other in 2018 and the former emerged victorious by restricting Nottinghamshire to 190 runs while they were chasing 210 in 20 overs.
Key Players
Will Smeed (Somerset): The 21-year-old Will Smeed has been ruling the run-scoring charts for Somerset in the 2023 season of the T20 Blast. He is occupying the seventh place in the overall list with 471 runs in 14 matches at an average of over 33.
Smeed was the top performer for the side in their last game also as they defeated Kent by 15 runs. The opening batter propelled his team to a score of 221 runs in the allotted 20 overs by hammering 61 runs off just 28 balls.
Joe Clarke (Nottinghamshire): Nottinghamshire will be hoping for their opening batter Joe Clarke to dish out a spectacular performance on Friday and take them to victory in a must-win game. He is one of the top performers for the team with 430 runs to his name in 14 matches at an average of over 33.
The opening batter failed to make a mark during the team’s last outing against Leicestershire as he walked back after scoring only seven runs. However, the odds are in his favor to make a comeback.
Predicted XIs
Somerset: Tom Banton (wk), Will Smeed, Tom Abell ©, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Sean Dickson, Lewis Gregory, Ben Green, Craig Overton, Josh Davey, Matt Henry, Ish Sodhi
Nottinghamshire: Joe Clarke, Alex Hales ©, Lyndon James, Matthew Montgomery, Tom Moores (wk), Haseeb Hameed, Imad Wasim, Shaheen Afridi, Calvin Harrison, Matthew Carter, Jake Ball
Prediction
Playing on Friday, in the third quarter-final match of the 2023 edition of the T20 Blast, Somerset will be the favorite to win against Nottinghamshire. The team did much better during the league round as they won 12 out of 14 league games. Somerset will be riding on confidence and momentum and are likely to continue their domination in the playoffs.
Having said that, Nottinghamshire was also decent with eight wins and six losses from 14 league games. Thus, they are expected to give a tough fight to the favorites and move further in the competition.