Friends Provident Trophy - PREVIEW

Profiles / Editor / 11 June 2007 / Leave a Comment

The Friends Provident Trophy group stage is about to reach a thrilling conclusion.

Wednesday sees the last round of matches and no fewer than nine of the 20 teams have a chance of reaching the semi-finals.

The South Conference is particularly tightly bunched, with six points separating first-placed Hampshire and sixth-placed Somerset. The battle for the two qualification places is made tenser by the fact that the six contenders will be in action against each other.

Hampshire sit in top spot after completing a nervy two run win over Kent on Sunday. That was their third win in a row and a win against Surrey at the Rose Bowl would guarantee their qualification as group winners.

Claiming top spot brings the added bonus of playing the semi-final on home soil - the Rose Bowl has brought the Hawks three wins and a tie so far, and another win on Wednesday would leave them two wins away from repeating their win in 2005. Hampshire are trading at 3.75 to lift the trophy.

Surrey were also involved in a tight finish on Sunday. They started the day in third place but a three-wicket defeat against Somerset at Bath, their second reverse in succession, has seen them slip to fifth in the Southern Conference and to 5.7 in the winner's market.

Mark Butcher's men are reliant on other results going their way, but they at least have the third best net run rate of the six contenders and would ensure they finished above current leaders Hampshire with a win against Shane Warne's in-form outfit.

Kent have been the South Conference's pace-setters for most of the tournament. Since losing their opener against Surry in late April, they have won all five completed matches until their slip-up against Hampshire at Tunbridge Wells on Sunday.

The Spitfires are currently in second place, a point behind Hampshire but level on points with Essex and Gloucestershire, who they face-off against on Wednesday. Kent narrowly have the best net run rate and should squeeze through with a win, although they know that Hampshire and Essex could edge them out with sufficiently large wins of their own. Kent trade at 5.1 to win this tournament for the first time since 1974.

Gloucestershire edged home against winless Glamorgan on Sunday, the group's county whipping boys. That six-run victory kept them in the hunt in fourth place and maintained their hopes of reliving the glory era of the turn of the century, when they won this tournament four times between 1999 and 2004. They are available at 8.4 to go the distance.

The other teams in with a shout of progressing from the South Conference are Essex and Somerset. The Eagles thrashed Sussex by 132 runs on Sunday - three runs less than the margin with which they dispatched Hampshire in their opening fixture - and look to be running into form at the right time.

Essex have won their last two matches in both the Friends Provident Trophy and the County Championship, which bodes well for their bid to retain the Pro 40 Division One. They are the early favourites in the betting to win that tournament and can be backed at 5.1 to claim the Friends Provident title.

The Eagles, like Kent, know that a win should be enough to ensure their qualification, which is not the equation facing Somerset. They are in sixth place and require a heavy win against Essex as well as defeats for Surrey and Kent to maintain hopes of landing the trophy. They trade at 7.6 to go the distance.

The qualification picture in the North Conference is a little clearer. Durham are guaranteed a semi final berth - they are two points clear and would need to suffer a hammering at second placed Warwickshire on Wednesday to miss out a home semi final.

Durham's tense one-wicket win over fellow qualification hopefuls Nottinghamshire on Sunday was their seventh victory of the tournament and their sixth on the bounce. They have never won a major trophy and trade at 4.2 to make this one their first. Philip Mustard is in red-hot form as the competition's current highest runscorer.

Warwickshire are the current tournament favourites, trading at 4. They have been closely associated with this tournament down the years, winning it five times and finishing as runners-up three times in the last 10 years. They are unbeaten in the County Championship top division and have suffered only one reverse in the Friends Provident Trophy, against Worcestershire.

The Bears, winners against Scotland last time out, can claim top spot with a significant win over Durham in their final game and a win of any margin would end Nottinghamshire's qualification hopes. Notts are a point adrift of Warwickshire and will be kicking themselves after letting a winning position slip against the leaders on Sunday.

They let Durham score 24 runs for the last wicket to secure a one wicket win in the last over, which leaves Stephen Fleming's men hoping Durham will do them a favour by overcoming Warwickshire.

The Outlaws host Lancashire, who have had a disappointing campaign after reaching last year's final. They find themselves in the midst of the seven Northern section teams who are out of the running for a semi final place.

After losing to Yorkshire in their opener, Notts had won all five of their completed matches until Sunday's reverse and will be confident of pressurising Warwickshire with a win - Lancashire have won just four of their 14 matches in all competitions and reached a low point in the Friends Provident Trophy with a 10 run defeat against Scotland. Nottinghamshire, winners of the trophy once, in 1987, trade at 5.8 to win it this year.