Who are the England hopefuls hoping to impress new white-ball manager Matthew Mott? Which foreign stars are on display? Who are the favorites to make Finals Day? Watch the opening game of Vitality Blast as champions Kent take on Somerset, live on Sky Sports Cricket from 6:30pm
Kent Spitfires won the 2021 Vitality Blast, beating Somerset in the final
The Vitality Blast kicks off on Wednesday night with a delicious showdown between defending champions Kent and Somerset in a repeat of last year’s final: live on Sky Sports Cricket from 6:30pm – and here’s our practical guide to the 2022 tournament…
There has been a big change with the England cricket team in 2022, with Matthew Mott the final piece of the puzzle following his appointment as the new white-ball head coach.
England’s ODI and T20 teams have been something of an impenetrable fortress in recent years, going from unlucky 50+ World Cup losers in 2015 to winners at home four years later. Looking to add a T20 World Cup to the trophy case in October, can anyone force their way into Mott’s plans?
phil salt, now with Lancashire, should be near the front of the queue once again. The former Sussex starter made his way into a much-changed ODI team that whitewashed Pakistan 3-0 last summer after an outbreak of Covid-19.
Durham rhythm bowler Brydon Carse also impressed and could your fast mate county matthew potts follow up a Test call with one in the cue ball arena with a good Explosion projection?
harry brookSimilarly, he has his eyes firmly set on a Test team batting spot at the moment, but his first opportunity came in a maiden T20I cap in the West Indies earlier this year following a stellar 2021 Blast campaign at which was the fourth leading scorer with 486 runs at an average of 69.42 for Yorkshire.
Daniel Bell Drummond he was little better than Brook last year, his 492 runs in the tournament made him England’s leading batsman, and could Kent’s connection to England’s new men’s cricket managing director Rob Key count in his favour?
Is this the year that tom banton really cement a place in England’s cue ball setup that many assumed would already be a given after the Somerset heavy hitter burst onto the scene in 2019? With 20 caps already, Banton is averaging a disappointing 20 in both formats.
olly stone Y Reece Topley they certainly have international pedigree, but the fast bowlers will need to convince selectors of their fitness and tournament form, as both have collapsed repeatedly over the years when they were apparently on the brink of becoming England regulars. .
And there could be ways to get back on the international level for consistent domestic T20 performance. ben duckdark arts master of death bowling Pat Brownand maybe even alex hales?
England appear to have firmly closed the door on the latter, but perhaps Mott has other ideas, and a strong showing from Blast will only help his case towards retirement three years after being sacked in the run-up to the 2019 World Cup. Cup.
Rashid Khanthe best white ball bowler in the world, he is a huge draw every year at Sussex and has helped them qualify for the (minimum) quarter-finals in each of his three seasons with the team, with a run to the final in 2018 Joining the star of Afghanistan on the south coast this summer is the wicketkeeper batsman from Pakistan Mohammad Rizwanwho averages over 50 in T20I cricket.
carlos brathwaite, Remember the name! The burly West Indies batsman joins the Birmingham Bears six years after delivering a six-hit masterclass to break the hearts of Ben Stokes and England in the T20 World Cup final. Joining him at Edgbaston is a man more familiar to Middlesex fans, but Ireland’s Paul Stirling now he’ll be throwing the ball everywhere in the Midlands.
There is something more Caribbean style about the border of the county like Dwayne Bravo turns out for Worcestershire Rapids, where New Zealand Colin Munro will also end up at the top of the order. His Black Caps partner Jimmy Neesham Meanwhile, he will line up for Northamptonshire.
19-year-old fast bowler from Pakistan naseem shah promises to provide box office entertainment in his first stint in county cricket with Gloucestershire. fast afghanistan Naveen-ul-Haq – wicket-taking leader in 2021, with 26 at an average of 17.57 – is back with Leicestershire, with his compatriots and twirlers Mujeeb Ur Rahman Y qays ahmad resulting for Middlesex and Kent respectively.
West Indian duo Kieron Pollard Y sunil narineboth from Surrey, they have plenty of T20 experience and can be destructive with the bat and impactful on the ball, while keeping an eye on the Singapore international from Lancashire. Tim David. His T20 strike rate is an astonishing 163.07 from 97 matches, one of the best in the world.
Same as last year with the 18 sides divided into separate North and South Groups.
NORTH GROUP: Birmingham Bears, Derbyshire Falcons, Durham, Lancashire Lightning, Leicestershire Foxes, Northamptonshire Steelbacks, Notts Outlaws, Worcestershire Rapids, Yorkshire Vikings
SOUTH GROUP: Essex Eagles, Glamorgan, Gloucestershire, Hampshire Hawks, Kent Spitfires, Middlesex, Somerset, Surrey, Sussex Sharks
Each side plays 14 group games, seven at home and seven away, between May 25 and July 3, with the top four teams in each group advancing to the quarterfinals in early July.
The winners of the North Group will face the fourth-placed team from the South Group in the quarter-finals and so on, with the winners of the quarter-finals advancing to Finals Day in Edgbaston on Saturday 16 July.
news, for one. The Outlaws won the tournament in 2017 and 2020 and have reached at least the quarterfinals in the last five seasons. His hitting is still as energetic as ever with the likes of Hales, Duckett, Joe Clarke and Samit Patel.
champions 2015 Lancashire Lightning they have also performed well of late, with two semi-final appearances and two quarter-final appearances in the last four campaigns. There will be hope that they can take the trophy this time around with a batting lineup that includes Liam Livingstone, Jos Buttler and Tim David, plus Matt Parkinson’s leg spin on the bowling front.
