The T20 Blast starts on Thursday with 18 county teams hoping to make it to Finals Day at Edgbaston on Saturday 14th September.
Last summer, Somerset beat Essex Eagles to end an 18-year wait for their second domestic T20 title and both sides are expected to be serious title contenders again.
Somerset are 8/1 to retain their crown while Surrey and the Nottinghamshire Outlaws, whom they beat in the semi-finals and quarter-finals, are the 7/1 joint-favourites.
But it is a wide-open tournament and there have been 13 different champions in the first 21 years of the English domestic Twenty20 competition.
- SURREY TO WIN THE T20 BLAST
- WORCESTERSHIRE TO WIN THE NORTH GROUP
- HAMPSHIRE TO WIN THE SOUTH GROUP
Surrey’s Fringe Men To Make Impact
Surrey have had one of the strongest squads around for well over a decade so it’s surprising that their one and only T20 Blast title came back in the inaugural 2003 campaign.
The Brown Caps have reached Finals Day in two of the last four years and fell to eventual champions Somerset in a low-scoring semi-final at Edgbaston last July.
The offseason signing of England batter Dan Lawrence strengthens an already formidable top order while the addition of Australian paceman Spencer Johnson for the first eight Blast games could strike fear into some of their opponents.
Johnson has already raised excitement levels in south London with his extraordinary haul of three wickets for just one run in 20 balls on his debut in The Hundred for Oval Invincibles last August.
Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Reece Topley and Chris Jordan will miss more than half of the group stage while they help England defend their global T20 title in the Caribbean and the USA, but there is ample depth available to Gareth Batty and they should be able to cope.
The Three Feathers may not be able to win their section, but they can make it into the top four and with the likely availability of all their England players bar Ollie Pope, plus the return of injured all-rounder Craig Overton, they can power on to glory from the quarter-finals onward.
Rapids’ A Northern Threat
The North Group does not look to be as strong this year with last year’s winners Birmingham Bears beset by injuries and Lancashire Lightning weakened by England call-ups.
Last year’s third-placed side - Worcestershire Rapids - look capable of taking advantage as their squad evolves after the loss of some players in the offseason.
Leg-spinner Usama Mir, who took 19 wickets in 11 appearances last summer, returns having just helped Multan Sultans reach the Pakistan Super League Final and exciting Kiwi all-rounder Nathan Smith already looks the part after taking a bunch of wickets in the County Championship.
WORCESTERSHIRE RAPIDS TO WIN THE NORTH GROUP
Hawks Can Soar In The South
Hampshire Hawks’ valiant defence of their 2022 crown was ended by Essex Eagles in last year’s semi-finals, although the weather also played a part.
After posting Finals Day’s best score of 170-7 in 20 overs, the dreaded Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method intervened in favour of the chasing side with Essex then knocking off the required 115 with three balls to spare.
The mainstays of last summer’s squad are back again with former England star James Vince looking to emulate his competition-leading tally of 670 runs.
The bowling department looks well stocked too with Nathan Ellis and John Turner returning 44 wickets between them in 2023 and overseas signings Michael Neser and Ottniel Baartman set to boost their pace department.
Baartman, the standout seamer in this year’s SA20 competition, could prove a very shrewd acquisition after he took 18 wickets at 11.77 despite being tasked with opening the bowling and finishing things off at the death for Sunrisers Eastern Cape.
Australian wicketkeeper-batter Ben McDermott returns for his third straight year in Southampton and his explosive batting alongside Vince at the top of the order ought to make the Hawks among the strongest contenders again this year.
