SUR vs KENT 38th Match - South Group Prediction

SUR vs KENT Team Previews

Surrey

Surrey are currently placed in the middle of the points table, and the next few games are going to govern their fate in the tournament going forward. Even though they've done well to bounce back into the competition after heavy defeats at the hands of Essex and Middlesex respectively in the first two matches.

They then made a scintillating comeback against Glamorgan wherein their bowlers scripted a historic win for them. They then went onto tie their match with Sussex which resulted in a shared point for them.

Barring their fixture against Middlesex, their bowlers have done exceedingly well for them and considering the surface at the Kennington Oval; their bowlers are likely to play a crucial role in the upcoming fixture as well. Having said that, it's been their batting which has faltered, and unless they do something to get their act together, their bowlers are going to find it challenging to win the match on their own against a power-packed Kent lineup.

Kent

There have been only one team in the tournament which has been as dominant as Lancashire has been in the North Group - Kent. So far in the competition, Kent have been a force to reckon with and have looked in a rampaging mood. They are coming into the upcoming game on the back of a convincing win over Essex by 22 runs. They have a superb net run rate of +1.089 which emphasizes the kind of dominance they've shown in the tournament thus far.

They started their campaign with a massive win as underdogs against Somerset and haven't looked back since. In their subsequent game, against Hampshire, their bowlers did exceedingly well to a manageable total of 145 before their batsmen overhauled that, albeit not that convincingly. Their batting was tested in that game as they lost early wickets during the small chase, but the depth of their batting came to their rescue as Alex Blake batted with the tail to guide them to a victory.

In their last match, against Essex, their top-order batted phenomenally well to take them to a position of strength, but a mini-collapse in the death overs kept them a little short of where they should have been. Alex Blake, Mohammad Nabi, and Cox failed to hit the ball long and hard as they finished with 175 runs on the board. Despite scoring a total lower than they should have, their bowlers didn't lack intensity upfront, which eventually proved to be the difference between the sides. Viljoen got rid of two wickets for just 28 runs while Milne, Nabi, Klaasen, and Imran Qayyum contributed with a wicket each.

Overall, there's a strong reason that Kent are sitting comfortably at the top of the table. They have match-winners available all through their lineup, be it in bowling or batting and it has reflected in all of the three matches they've played. They've been undefeated up until now, and it won't be surprising if they continue to do so.