Betting on England's Vitality T20 Blast

The T20 Blast, which is currently called the Vitality Blast due to sponsorship reasons, is a Twenty20 cricket tournament for first class counties from England and Wales. The first edition of this tournament was played in 2003, and has the honour of being the first professional T20 competition in the world. It is a competition that attracts attention from cricket fans not only across the United Kingdom, but also in other cricket-loving nations around the world. In this article, we are going to tell you all that you need to know about this great cricket competition and this will help you when it comes to betting on it.

Vitality Blast Prediction 2021 and Winner Odds

This is our Vitality Blast prediction and winner odds for 2021. We predict that Somerset will win the T20 Blast this year!

Team Betting Odds Bet
Somerset 3.50
Sussex 3.00
Hampshire 3.40
Kent 4.50

The Best Betting Sites for Vitality Blast Betting

What Format Does the Vitality Blast Use?

There are 18 first-class counties that battle it out for the title, and these teams are evenly split into two groups of nine - there is the North Group and the South Group. Each team will play seven matches at home and seven away from home, with the top four teams from each group making it through to the quarter-finals.

The quarter-finals are seeded, which means that the two top-ranked teams from each group will be the hosts. The team that finishes first in group will play the team that finishes fourth in the other group, while the team that comes second in one group will play the team that comes third in the other. The four winners will then proceed to the semi-finals, where they will battle it out for the chance to be crowned Vitality Blast champions. The semi-finals and the final take place on the same day, and this is what is known as Finals Day.

Vitality T20 Blast 2021 Tournament Preview

The Vitality T20 Blast 2021 will consist of 133 matches and started on June the 9th and will finish on the 18th of September. This is the fourth season of the Vitality Blast as before 2018 it was known as the Natwest t20 Blast - it has also been called the Friends Life t20 and the Friends Provident t20.

The Notts Outlaws were the defending champions, having won their second title in 2020 by beating Surrey by six wickets in the final. However, they will not be defending their title this time around because they were knocked out in the quarter-finals by the Hampshire Hawks.

Which Teams Will Be Competing?

As we mentioned above, there are 18 teams that take part in the T20 Blast and they are split into two groups of nine. Below we have provided you with two tables that give you important information for both groups. When it comes to T20 Blast Betting or any type of cricket betting, it is important to know the coach of each team and the ground that they play at. By knowing such information, you can then do your homework to find out how each coach likes to play and what type of scores you can expect at certain grounds.

North Group:

TeamHome GroundCoachCaptain
Birmingham BearsEdgbaston, BirminghamMark RobinsonWill Rhodes
Derbyshire FalconsCounty Ground, DerbyDave HoughtonMatt Critchley
DurhamRiverside Ground, Chester-le-StreetJames FranklinCameron Bancroft
Lancashire LightningOld Trafford, ManchesterGlenn ChappleDane Vilas
Leicestershire FoxesGrace Road, LeicesterPaul NixonColin Ackermann
Northants SteelbacksCounty Ground, NorthamptonDavid RipleyJosh Cobb
Notts OutlawsTrent Bridge, NottinghamPeter MooresSteven Mullaney
Worcestershire RapidsNew Road, WorcesterAlex GidmanEd Barnard
Yorkshire VikingsHeadingley, LeedsAndrew GaleDavid Willey

South Group:

TeamHome GroundCoachCaptain
Essex EaglesCounty Ground, ChelmsfordAnthony McGrathSimon Harmer
GlamorganSophia Gardens, CardiffMatthew MaynardChris Cooke
GloucestershireCounty Ground, BristolIan HarveyJack Taylow
Hampshire HawksRose Bowl, SouthamptonAdrian BirrellJames Vince
Kent SpitfiresSt. Lawrence Ground, CanterburyMatt WalkerSam Billings
MiddlesexLord's, LondonStuart LawEoin Morgan
SomersetCounty Ground, TauntonJason KerrLewis Gregory
SurreyThe Oval, LondonVikram SolankiGareth Batty
Sussex SharksCounty Ground, HoveJames KirtleyLuke Wright

What is the Prize Money?

When it comes the T20 format, it is safe to say that the prize money on offer is nowhere close to the prize pool that is available for other T20 competitions such as the Indian Premier League and the Big Bash. However, players compete in this competition for the honour of being crowned champions, with the amount of money on offer being pretty irrelevant. So, let us take a look at the prize money that is on offer.

The champions will bag £175,000, while the team that comes second will get £78,000. The losing teams in the semi-finals will receive £14,000, while each losing team in the quarter-finals will get £4,500. There are individual prizes up for grabs as well. For example, the Man of the Match in group stage will earn £225, while the Man of the Match in the quarter-finals will get £500, and this is doubled to £1,000 in the semi-finals and final. If you are thinking about doing a bit of Vitality Blast Betting, then we recommend you bet on the Man of the Match because the odds are always high with this type of market, meaning that good profits are always up for grabs.

There is also a £5,000 prize, and this is given to the player that is deemed to be the Most Valuable Player of the Tournament.

Our Vitality Blast Predictions for 2021

It is always good fun trying to predict which team will be victorious and get to lift the trophy on Finals Day, but it is not a simple prediction to make. This can be seen from the fact that from 18 editions of this tournament, there have been no fewer than 14 different winners. Even if you do not get your bet right though, it is still great fun betting on a team and following their journey through the competition.

Vitality Blast Playoff Stage Match Predictions

Before the tournament started, we had predicted that from the North Group the four teams that would make it to the playoffs would be Notts Outlaws, Birmingham Bears, Worcestershire Rapids, and Leicestershire Foxes. We were 50% correct because the Notts Outlaws and the Birmingham Bears made it through to the quarter-finals.

With regard to the South Group, we had predicted that Somerset, Kent Spitfires, Hampshire Hawks, and Essex Eagles would make it to the quarter-finals. With our predictions for this group, we were 75% correct as all of our choices bar the Essex Eagles made it through to the playoffs.

So, all things considered, we do not think that we did too badly overall with our predictions.

Vitality Blast Winner Prediction

The first of the semi-finals will see the Hampshire Hawks take on Somerset as these two sides overcame the Notts Outlaws and Lancashire Lightning in the quarter-finals. The second semi-final will see the Kent Spitfires battle it out against the Sussex Sharks as the former beat the Birmingham Bears and Yorkshire Vikings in the quarter-finals.

We predict that the first semi-final will be won by Somerset and that the second semi-final will be won by Sussex Sharks. Predicting who will win the final out of these two sides is really tricky, but we would have to go for Somerset in a closely fought final. Unfortunately, the group stage match between these two teams was rained off, so we cannot use that as a guideline as to who will go on to win this final, if both make it through as we predict.

Previous Winners and Records

As we mentioned above, there have been 14 different winners of this competition. The most successful team is the Leicestershire Foxes as they won the title in 2004, 2006, and 2011. The Notts Outlaws have won the title twice, having won it in 2017 and 2020, while the Hampshire Royals have also won it twice having been victorious in 2010 and 2012. The Northants Steelbacks also have the honour of having won the trophy twice as they were the winners in 2013 and 2016.

The other teams that have won the title once are the Surrey Lions, Somerset Sabres, Kent Spitfires, Middlesex Crusaders, Sussex Sharks, Northants Steelbacks, Birmingham Bears, Lancashire Lightning, Worcestershire Rapids, and the Essex Eagles.

Now that we have taken a look at the previous winners of this competition, we are now going to have a look at some interesting stats from this year's tournament:

Highest total: The highest score so far has been 240/4, and this was scored by Yorkshire Vikings against the Leicestershire Foxes. England's Jonny Bairstow was the Man of the Match as he smacked 82 runs from 45 balls.

Largest victory: The largest victory so far is 114 runs, and this was the Notts Outlaws' winning margin when they beat the Birmingham Bears. Samit Patel was the Player of the Match as he scored 41 with the bat and picked up 2 wickets for just 8 runs.

Most runs: Joshua Inglis is the leading scorer in this year's competition, having scored 531 runs at an average of 48.27. He hit two centuries, with a top score of 118*.

Most sixes: Glenn Phillips has hit the most sixes by quite some distance - he hit 36 sixes in 12 matches, and the next closest to him is Inglis with 24 sixes.

Most wickets: Naveen-ul-Haq leads the way when it comes to wickets taken as he picked up 26 scalps from 14 matches at an average of 17.57.

Best bowling figures: Matt Milnes picked up five wickets for just 22 runs during Kent's match against Glamorgan.

N.B. A special mention needs to go to Samit Patel here because in June 2021, while playing for Notts Outlaws, he became the first ever English player to 250 wickets and score 5,000 runs in this competition.

Women's League

It is fair to say that women's cricket, and women's sport in general, is starting to become more popular and, because of this, you will usually have a women's version of a men's cricket tournament. This is the case with the Vitality Blast, and it is just as exciting to bet on this tournament.

The Vitality Women's Twenty20 Cup had its first edition back in 2009, and it has 36 teams competing in it instead of just 18. In the men's 2021 tournament, the 18 teams were divided into two groups, but in the women's event there were six groups of six teams based on the locality of the teams. This year, there was no overall winner with Nottinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Lancashire, Somerset, and Gloucestershire winning their respective regions.

Imogen Sidhu, who plays for Suffolk, finished as the top scorer in the competition with 293 runs scored from 6 matches at an average of 73.25. Finty Trussler, from Hampshire, was the best bowler on display as she picked up 16 wickets at an average of 6.50 from the matches that she played.

When it comes to previous winners, just like with the men's tournament, there have been various teams that have managed to put their name on the trophy. Kent is the most successful team as they have lifted the trophy in 2011, 2013, and 2016. Sussex are the second most successful team as they have won the trophy twice, back in 2012 and 2015. Other teams that have won it once include the likes of Surrey, Berkshire, Nottinghamshire, Lancashire, Middlesex, and Warwickshire.