Twenty20 cricket is under scrutiny at the moment and this is particularly true in England. The individual rewards on offer from the Stanford West Indies All Stars v. England matches have massively increased player incentives in this year's Twenty20 cup. Competition is further increased by the finalists qualifying for the big money Champions League tournament in September, but which are the teams likely to contend the crucial semi final matches on 26th August?
The three group stage divisions are made of six teams, from which the top two progress to make the quarter finalists. Each team plays the other in its group twice, and despite this long schedule of matches, some counties already look destined for the last eight, and they are not necessarily teams expected to succeed.
Middlesex currently top the south division with 100% record, which is a marked improvement on previous performances which saw them qualify from the group stage just once in five years. The Lord's outfit are joint favourites at odds of 6 (5/1) to win with Betfair and are certainly playing with enough confidence to go all the way, despite having a lack of star names in their line-up.
They have a fluid batting line-up that can change according to the state of the game and have in Tyron Henderson a big hitting batsman who can hit the crucial boundaries. The bowling is led by Kolpakker Dirk Nannes, an Australian playing on a Dutch passport, whose pace and left arm swing makes regular inroads at the start of the innings.
Midlands/West/Wales division leaders Northamptonshire are another team with a full set of wins at the time of writing, and they have also have never reached the last four. Opener Rob White is in scintillating form but it is their clutch of South African Kolpak allrounders - Andrew Hall, Nicky Boje, Lance Klusener and Johan van der Wath - who hold they key to their success. They are also available at 6 with Betfair to win.
The team with the most surprising Twenty20 record is Durham. A good One day team - they are the reigning 50 over tournament champions - they are the only team never to have progressed from the group stage, but they look like breaking that trend this year. They are packed with former internationals such as Steve Harmison, Phil Mustard, Liam Plunkett and Gareth Breese and have two match-winning South African allrounders of their own, in the form of Shaun Pollock and Albie Morkel. They can be backed at an attractive 7.6 (13/2) to win.
If these three teams would provide a fresh look to semi finals day, Kent would provide continuity. Last year's champions have been favourites from the outset and a strong start in the group stage should see them qualify from the south division with Middlesex.
They are on offer at 6.2 (5/1) to repeat last year's triumph and this represents excellent value. Skipper Rob Key is a wily captain who is expert at managing his bowlers and his own opening partnership with Joe Denly usually gets the innings off to a good start. They bat all the way down their order, with classy allrounders Azhar Mahmood, James Tredwell, Yasir Arafat and Ryan McLaren threatening with bat and ball.
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