Cricket: ICC World Cup 2011

[Tyler]

Re: Cricket: ICC World Cup 2011

Surely Woakes was the call?

With Plunkett injured, one would assume Woakes would get the shout after his fairly decent performances with both the ball and the bat down under. Clearly not the case though :\

[Westy]

Re: Cricket: ICC World Cup 2011 Morkel didn't play so that bet was voided. Couple of early ones for tomorrow in the India-West Indies game. 5pts - Player performance: MS Dhoni 46 & Over - 5/6 Bet365 This is a ground that MSD knows all too well. It is where his IPL team Chennai Super Kings play so he knows the conditions inside out. He hasn't really done a great deal with the bat this tournament but he's due a performance and with India being unable to finish an innings in the last few games, we could see Dhoni batting at 4 in this match to ensure there's no repeat. He's scored big runs here before, in the IPL, for an Asia XI and in the warm up match of the world cup so he could easily cover this with the bat alone. If we factor in his wicket keeping scoring methods too, then we have an even greater chance of covering this total. As we've seen in this WC, this Chennai pitch takes turn and with India likely to play two spinners in addition to the part timers, a stumping won't be too far away with these gung ho West Indian batsmen. All in all, I really like this bet so I'm happy to stake 5pts on it. 2pts - Top India Bowler: Ravichandran Ashwin - 9/2 Paddypower Ashwin is all but certain to make his WC debut tomorrow and for many Indian fans it is ridiculous that he's had to wait so long given the poor performances of Piyush Chawla. For all those of us who've watched the IPL, it would come as no surprise if Ashwin bagged some wickets tomorrow. Once again, like MSD, this is Ashwin's home ground so he will know where to bowl on this pitch. Not a lot of the current West Indians play IPL so they won't have faced Ashwin at all. He does possess the carrom ball which can be tricky to pick for the first time. We've seen when Mendis, who also bowls this delivery, came onto the scene he was quite successful against West Indies. In addition, with only two seamers for India, Ashwin will almost certainly bowl in the power plays and may even open up against Gayle, given the success of offspinners against him this WC, which increases his chances to pick up wickets. 9/2 represents good value so I'm happy to go with it.

[Tyler]

Re: Cricket: ICC World Cup 2011 Horrible. Horrible, horrible, horrible. Looking at a few others but for the time being: 2.5pts 14-17 Wickets to fall in match 13/8 Sportingbet Like the look of this. At the end of the day I see all ten West Indian wickets falling tomorrow and that will contribute the majority of these. This wicket at Chennai is expected to turn square and produce a drab low scoring affair. If WI Bat first, I expect the attack of Khan, Ashwin, Harbhajan, Yuvraj etc to get all ten West Indian wickets and exploit their frailties against the turning ball. The quality in the Indian batting line up are good enough to chase whatever is set infront of them without losing 8 wickets. On the flipside, the Windies are good enough to post a big enough score for the Indians to chase with the loss of four wickets. When Ireland set them 208 to win, they had them five down at the finish. Holland set India an even lower target and again they were five down at the finish. The fear here is that India bat first and lose a whole host of wickets at the end of their innings like they have done against SA and England. Either way though I'll play here with smallish stakes. 1pt M. Singh Dhoni Top India Batsman each-way 9/1 Coral Sehwag has suffered an allergic reaction to a painkiller injection and is doubtful for the game. On top of this they are expected to give Suresh Raina a match tomorrow which should see him slot in somewhere down the order. Either way, Dhoni should see himself come in alot higher than usual and if that is the case I can't see him not placing in the top three tomorrow. This price is way too high for this to come in whether they bat first or second. He has good memories here with a knock of 139* in the past and he plays at Chennai in the IPL. Makes sense at a nice price. 1pt Y. Singh Top Indian Bowler 7/1 Willhill Yuvraj already has a 5-for to his name in the world cup and has also taken two wickets in a match in another. Those wickets have come against Holland and Ireland respectively who some may say don't exactly provide opponents of real quality but I still feel someone who bowls regularly on a pitch massively favouring spin shouldn't be 7/1 to take the most wickets. He will bowl 7 overs plus tomorrow and after Swann and Tredwell had West Indies in absolute pieces the other day on the same ground, I'll play Yuvraj has a good day too. At a tasty price.

[infamous]

Re: Cricket: ICC World Cup 2011 Time for a few big plays: 10pts double Zimbabwe Highest 15 over score x India to beat West Indies at 1.96 with Bet365 I think that the Zimbabwe 15 over price here is being overpriced due to the Kenyan onslaught against the Aussies early on in their previous game. Prior to that their openers have generally been awful and not particularly threatening. Zimbabwe are also likely to open with spin, or at least introduce spin at an early stage of the game. I feel that the Kenyan lads will find this much harder to put away and that they may struggle early. Zimbabwe on the other hand have enough quality at the top of the order to score at a decent pace. Taylor is in decent nick and will always score quickly, and his partner should not have many problems giving him the strike against the Kenyan attack. India are just a better side than the Windies and will be all out to win this game imo. They would surely rather play Aus than SL in the next round. If they produce a wicket that turns (which looks pretty likely), then I feel India win this match very comfortably. The Windies lads just don't play spin that well - simple as that. Zaheer is usually money against left handers, and if he gets Gayle early it will be a huge uphill task for the Windies. 6pts Ray Price player performance 33pts and over @5/6 with Bet 365 Not going to go into this too much as I recommended his pp last game as well with reasoning and it sailed in. He often opens the bowling, bowls in the powerplay, and bowls at the death. This just gives him ample opportunities to take wickets. How well do Kenya play spin? Not well imo and he is a very live chance to take two wickets. If worst comes to the worst then he is handy with the bat aswell for a tailender. He also fields at first slip so should have a chance with catches, not to mention a caught and bowled. Low line for Zimbabwe's best bowler.

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: ICC World Cup 2011 Will update my P/L at the end of Sunday as it's late and I'm knackered and stuff. Will also update the settled outrights at the end of Sunday. 2 for me in the opening match. 3pts Kenya to beat Zimbabwe 3/1 Bet365 I've been a big critic of Kenya's play in this tournament but against Australia we finally saw signs that with the shackles off the Kenyan's are going to come out to play. The way the openers flogged Tait was good to see. Kenya have had 3-4 batsmen who have gone ok recently - both Obuya's, Mishra and then a combination of Ouma and Odoyo and that's a positive for them for two reasons. Firstly as we saw on Friday this Eden Gardens wicket is a road and superb for batting on and secondly because Zimbabwe's top 3 batsmen have all got scores but rarely in the same match. As a batting unit, Zimbabwe have been poor really. Kenya's bowling hasn't been the best but they did stick at it against Australia. They've a little bit of motivation here in that it's Tikolo's last ever match so they will have a let's win it for him mentality. Zimbabwe's motivation isn't really there. They've won a match, can't qualify so while they'll want to win they could easily put in a sloppy performance. For me Zimbabwe's attack is too one dimensional and at 3/1 I'll take the Kenyan's in the African derby. 4pts P.Utseya's Performance Pts - 34&Over 5/6 Bet365 Points are scored as follows: 1pt per run, 10pts per catch & 20pts per wicket. Prosper Utseya has had a good tournament so far and he's capable of covering this line with bat and ball individually let alone collectively. He's a very good off spinner and if Kenya's inability to play spin well shows up again here he's in business and then he'll bat at 7 or 8 and can chip in with solid runs down the order. Chuck in catches fielding around the bat and there's enough to cover 34pts.

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: ICC World Cup 2011 4 in the 2nd game. 3pts West Indies to beat India 12/5 William Hill This is a crazy price. I know West Indies have their faults and just choked against England but India ain't perfect either. Their bowling is a shambles if you take Zaheer out of the mix and their stubborn resistance to use part timers to make up the 5th 10 overs is plain daft. Even their batting has relied a lot on Tendulkar, Sehwag who isn't playing here and Yuvraj. We saw against South Africa how it can have a deck of cards feel about it. West Indies have a similar attack to SA in set up if not quality. If Pollard and Gayle catch hold of this Indian bowling I think they'll very much be in the game. 12/5 is a match with no pressure on it where the Caribbean men can exude flambouyance is a price I can't leave alone. 5pts 9 or more 6's 6/4 Sportingbet Another daft price. West Indies covered this on their own here on Thursday against England who have an attack which has been going at a similar rate to India's in this tournament. That was despite them only chasing 244. Gayle, Bravo, Pollard, Sammy and Russell as well as Sachin, Yuvraj, Dhoni, Raina and Yusuf is a helluva lot of firepower to clear these ropes. India's bowling is weak, there's bowlers in the West Indies line up which can go too so at this price on fairly small boundaries I have to take this one on. 3pts A.Russell's Performance Pts - 38&Over 5/6 Bet365 Points are scored as follows: 1pt per run, 10pts per catch & 20pts per wicket. I like the look of this Andre Russell. I've not seen a huge amount of him before this tournament barring a couple of matches in the Caribbean T20 but I like what I've seen. He's got a devastating yorker which bowled with his height isn't always easy to pick out and then he's a good fielder and can wield the willow as we saw against England. If he bowls at the right times he could pick up a couple of cheap wickets and cover this with the ball but via a combination of the 3 scoring methods I think he can nail 38pts. 1pt ew S.Raina Top India Batsman 8/1 Coral (1/5 1,2,3) Aside from Sachin and Yuvraj we haven't really seen much in the way of fireworks from the Indian batsmen which are lining up in this match. Suresh Raina looks set to replace Virender Sehwag in the side and he'll be itching to put up a score with the bat with Kohli's place not set in stone, especially if Raina contributes with the ball too. Desperate for a score to impress the selectors I think Raina is a bit big here. He could go up the order as a power hitter if needs be and on his IPL home ground I think Raina's a big price to top score here.

[KARAMBA]

Re: Cricket: ICC World Cup 2011

Time for a few big plays: 10pts double Zimbabwe Highest 15 over score x India to beat West Indies at 1.96 with Bet365

Wow. I went with the same parlay before I saw your post. Lets battle it out Kevshat (we are going against you on both counts).

[cashit]

Re: Cricket: ICC World Cup 2011 the price for 1st wicket mode of dismissal for Kenya plummeted today... opens at 251/1 at most places, before moving in as far as 10/1 at some aussie books before being closed all together watch this space :tongue2

[Tyler]

Re: Cricket: ICC World Cup 2011

2.5pts 14-17 Wickets to fall in match 13/8 Sportingbet Like the look of this. At the end of the day I see all ten West Indian wickets falling tomorrow and that will contribute the majority of these. This wicket at Chennai is expected to turn square and produce a drab low scoring affair. If WI Bat first, I expect the attack of Khan, Ashwin, Harbhajan, Yuvraj etc to get all ten West Indian wickets and exploit their frailties against the turning ball. The quality in the Indian batting line up are good enough to chase whatever is set infront of them without losing 8 wickets. On the flipside, the Windies are good enough to post a big enough score for the Indians to chase with the loss of four wickets. When Ireland set them 208 to win, they had them five down at the finish. Holland set India an even lower target and again they were five down at the finish. The fear here is that India bat first and lose a whole host of wickets at the end of their innings like they have done against SA and England. Either way though I'll play here with smallish stakes.

This is getting ridiculous now. India are horrible finishers.

[infamous]

Re: Cricket: ICC World Cup 2011

Time for a few big plays: 10pts double Zimbabwe Highest 15 over score x India to beat West Indies at 1.96 with Bet365 6pts Ray Price player performance 33pts and over @5/6 with Bet 365

2 winners. The 15 over score was level which meant that part was voided so the bet ended up being 10pts on India at 4/11. +8.63 for the day, +25.41 for the tournament.

[Tyler]

Re: Cricket: ICC World Cup 2011 Played Infamous :clap You seem to be one of the few that are in decent profit so far so keep that up. This tournament has been erratically up and down and for me and right now I'm in the middle of a stupid nose-dive after seemingly lifting myself out of one of my worst losing streaks ever. Factoring in a few settled outrights I'm currently sitting at -22.71. Lovely. Still have Sri Lanka to win the thing though and despite scores of 4 and 3 already Dilshan is somehow still in the Top Ten runscorers. Hopefully him and his team do the business for me before it's all wrapped up. To be honest I never expected the 'Top 8' to be the final 8 in this tournament. Secretly I fancy Pakistan to be shock finalists come April 2nd and at 7.50, I might have a small play each way. Slyly fancy the Aussies to beat the Indians too but we'll save that one for later. I salute anyone else who is in profit. Let's make it a good last seven matches.

[Cramer]

Re: Cricket: ICC World Cup 2011 Sport Cricket Event Pakistan v West Indies Selection Lay West Indies (Lay) Strength 10/10 Date 23/03/2011 Bookmaker/Price Coral @ 2.88 Reasoning I've been awful so far this tournament but hopefully still time to turn it around. Pakistan look an excellent unit so far and in the last group game showed they are ready to play hard with a great performance against Australia. Conditions suit and the bowling attack is second to no one. West Indies have looked better in this tournament, but not sure they have enough with the ball. They have explosive batsmen, but I think Pakistan will be able to get them and this game should be controlled by the better bowling attack.

[Tyler]

Re: Cricket: ICC World Cup 2011 Should be a cracker tomorrow. 3 for me: [3pts] West Indies highest 1st Fifteen Overs (-2.5runs) @ EVS (via Sportingbet) Should the big man Chris Gayle get a hold of a couple tomorrow, then this should sail in. If you remove the complete obliteration of Bangladesh and the drab opening to the match against Ireland (where Chanderpaul opened), the Windies have been very impressive in the 1st 15 overs of their matches. Their scores read 72 (vs South Africa), 95 (vs Holland), 106 (vs. England), 84 (vs. India). They usually come out of the blocks quickly and more importantly, they have boundary hitters at the top of their order. Gayle needs no introducing and the very consistent & in-form Devon Smith will despatch anything with a hint of width. Should one of those fall, Bravo comes in and again, he can drive very well and score quick enough. Pakistan on the other hand aren't AS quick out the blocks. So far their 1st fifteen over scores have gone 61 (vs Kenya), 79 (vs Sri Lanka), 67 (vs Canada), 46 (vs NZ), 57 (vs Zimbabwe), 62 (vs. Aus). We all know their openers are a concern in their line up. Shehzad has been dropped and replaced by the more attacking Kamran at the top of the order and against Australia, it didn't really help matters. Their problem is the fact that they lose wickets early on too often and have to slow the scoring to ensure they lose no more. Should Hafeez fail again and/or Kamran go after one too many then I think the Windies will take this. Don't get me wrong, Gul and Razzaq won't be amazingly easy to score off but I fancy them to take this at a nice price. [3pts] Over 5.5 Sixes @ 5/6 (via William Hill) When you look at the potential hitters on show tomorrow, six sixes doesn't look like that much of stretch. The majority of other bookies have this at 6.5 so I didn't want to let this one slip with Gayle, Bravo, Sammy, Pollard, Umar, Kamran, Afridi & Razzaq on show tomorrow. The ground here at Dhaka isn't MASSIVE. The recent games here haven't displayed that many but the first match of the whole tournament showed that if a batsman gets in, this is easily clearable. One of the aforemorementioned guys can take care of half of this an there is enough pace early up to exploit on top a multitude of semi average spinners to take care of so I reckon this is do-able. [1pt] A. Shafiq Top Pakistan Batsman @ 5/1 (via StanJames) I like the look of Shafiq. He came in for the flop that was Shehzad and scored more runs in his first innings than in Shehzad's previous four. 46 against Zimbabwe and 78* against the Aussies show what this guy can do under pressure and after having not had any time in the middle recently. He has a good temperament and a decent technique to go with it. Not the fastest scorer ever but to be honest I couldn't give a fxck. He's in good nick and I like the odds being given for him to top score. So I'll have a dig.

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: ICC World Cup 2011 3 for me tomorrow. Bit pushed for time so will work out P/L during tomorrow's game. 5pts Over 15.5 wides 5/6 Blue Square These two sides are two of the most indisciplined sides in the tournament. Gul and Shoaib can sling a few down leg side while Andre Russell has comfortably boosted the West Indies wides tallies since he's come back into the side. Dew could well be prevelent at this Dhaka ground in the 2nd innings which should lead to more wides coming along. Unless this is a total blowout I think we'll see 16 wides here. 3pts K.Pollard's Performance Pts - 43&Over 5/6 Bet365 Points are scored as follows: 1pt per run, 10pts per catch & 20pts per wicket. Kieron Pollard has been given more responsibility in this side now and he's up to batting as high as 5 in the order. This is meant to be a good deck for batting although I have my doubts as I've not seen too many good batting strips in Bangladesh. They are too low and slow for my liking. However that will help Pollard's bowling as he likes mixing his pace and he could grab a couple of cheap wickets. I'm sure he will bat whichever way around the West Indies do it and throw in how he's one of the best fielders around and I think 43pts can be covered. 1pt M.Hafeez Top Pakistan Bowler 10/1 Blue Square Hafeez is a big price here. In West Indies last two matches they've kind of fallen apart against the weaker of the two spinners and that could happen again here. I don't know whether they take their eyes off the ball when the lesser bowlers come on or not but it's strange it's happened twice with Tredwell and Ashwin going so well. I think an off spinner will go better than a leg spinner against the West Indies as they have so many left handers. That could well put Hafeez ahead of Afridi and Rehman and on a slow wicket where spin is likely to be the best route to success I'll have a dabble on Hafeez to top Pakistan's wicket charts in this quarter final.

[infamous]

Re: Cricket: ICC World Cup 2011 5pts West Indies to beat Pakistan at 9/5 on Betfair This is a huge price on the very talented West Indies side imo. Not much explanation here I'm afraid - there's just huge value in the odds. Don't know why anyone would be rushing to back Pakistan in a crunch game at almost 1/2 with their history. Windies are definitely underdogs but no way should they be this big. They have too many matchwinners in their side both with bat and ball. The bowling (perceived to be the weak link pre-tournament) has been pretty good so far and has always given the batsmen a chance. I feel that tomorrow could be the day that the batting comes good also. All it takes is Gayle or Pollard to have a good day and Windies will be in with a huge shout - should they both perform it's goodnight Pakistan. Smith is in good form as is Bravo, and bringing Chanderpaul into the middle order provides a reliable player under pressure. At these odds this is the only play.

[infamous]

Re: Cricket: ICC World Cup 2011 Absolutely shocking from the Windies that. Awful performance at a critical time. Only Cramer with a winner I believe - well played. Biggest game of the round tomorrow and one play: 8pts India to beat Australia at 8/11 with Bluesquare A lot of people are tipping the Aussies for this one but I'm going the other way. Confident/big play on India to win. Simple reason for that is spin. You have to assume that the track prepared will assist the slow bowlers a lot more than it will the quicks - especially with it being known from the beginning that India would be playing there in knockout rounds. If the pitch turns India should be no bigger than 1/2. Taking a chance, but I'm pretty sure that it will turn. If that's the case then India have far more quality in that department and should win well. Not much more to say really. It's a play based on an educated guess. If the groundsmen have brains they will produce a turning track which favours India in a big way - I'll take a chance on them being smart! ;) Also contemplating a big play on India highest 15 over score, but will wait to see whether Sehwag plays or not.

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: ICC World Cup 2011 Another wipeout on Wednesday and a few outrights disappeared with it. I'm now -28.45 for the matches so far but clinging on to +0.50 for the settled outrights at the minute so -27.95 overall. Have a couple of outrights still running looking like paying out though and if England and Australia win this week it will further enhance the main outright now which is Trott to top score. 4 for me tomorrow. 5pts Australia to beat India 6/5 Skybet I really like Australia here. Once they get past Dhoni this Indian batting lineup folds quicker than a deck of cards and I'm very confident Australia have the bowling attack to get through even on a good batting deck. Australia's batting hasn't totally fired yet but there's more than enough talent in there when you think Krejza is going to come in at 9 or 10 and he has a first class ton to his name. India don't have a great record on this ground having lost their last 4 surprisingly. Scores of 315, 285 and 275 haven't been enough on 3 of those occasions. Australia are a big game side and the more people write Ponting off the more I get the feeling this Australian side will be dying to win this. Only Pakistan have beaten the Aussies in this tournament so far and after the way they played today that ain't bad form. Ponting knows how to get a performance from this lot when they need it and at 6/5 I'm on them to progress to a semi final showdown with Pakistan. 4pts V.Sehwag's Performance Pts - Under 45 5/6 Bet365 Points are scored as follows: 1pt per run, 10pts per catch & 20pts per wicket. Obviously this is voided if Sehwag doesn't play but the fact India are leaving it as late as possible suggests to me they are desperate for him to play. I've no idea why though because his record against Australia is pretty rotten. In 27 matches he averages just 22.65 with the bat and hasn't passed 40 in any of his last 9 ODI's against them. In fact he's only covered this performance total 3 times in those 27 matches and that's putting scores with bat, ball and in the field together. It's fair to say Australia are not good opponents for Sehwag. This ground isn't much better for him. He's played 4 matches here and averaged 17.25 with a top score of 29. He hasn't passed 45pts in any of those 4 matches so he hasn't really got a lot going for him in this match other than his good form in the tournament thus far. However he's clearly not going to be 100% fit if he does play and as long as he doesn't stand and deliver for 15 overs I can't see him getting close to 45pts. Johnson has come out and said his ribs will be targetted which is a fair plan and should restrict Sehwag to nowhere near 45pts. 3pts R.Ponting's Match Runs - Over 30.5 5/6 Ladbrokes Often I look for telling stats and recent form to back up bets and while I've not got recent form on my side his record against India definitely is. In 55 matches against India he averages a shade under 41 and has covered this total in 5 of his last 7 ODI innings against them, 4 of which were in India. In fact in India that average against them rises to just under 45 so a mere average innings sees this covered. Ok Ponting ain't in superb touch with the bat at the minute but he's a massive big game player and I expect him to lead from the front here. The order of the day should be to have wickets in hand to go nuts at the end and that should allow Ponting to nudge his way to 30 and put any bad balls away. Given his career averages against India this line is well within reach. 1pt ew M.Hussey Top Australia Batsman 11/2 Coral (1/5 1,2,3) If Ponting has a good record against India then Hussey's is nuts. In 17 matches against them he averages no less than 72.55 and in his last 10 ODI innings against them the lowest score he's made is 31 not out. 5 of those 10 knocks have seen him go past 50 so this guy loves this bowling attack. It's not a huge surprise really because as a left hander he blunts the threat of Zaheer Khan and Nehra should he play. The off spinners go away from him but he's such a good player of spin it doesn't matter. Hussey is a fantastic finisher and yet can play the rebuild innings too which makes him special. Australia will need him to come to the party in a big way here and they could move him above White in the order to maximise his good record against the Indians. Wherever he bats though with a record as insane as his is I'm taking him each way particularly with a minute profit for a place.

[infamous]

Re: Cricket: ICC World Cup 2011 1 more play for tomorrow: 4pts Brett Lee Player Performance under 41 points with Bet365 @5/6 This line is too high imo. Brett Lee has had a very good world cup so far and is always a danger when it comes to taking wickets. However this line could potentially mean that he needs 3 wickets to cover it. He bats very low - at number 10, so may not get a bat/if he does won't get much time to bat. Catches as always are a lottery - happy to take a chance that he doesn't take one. With the ball I am hoping that the pitch aids spin more so than pace. If that does prove to be the case then Lee could well be in for a long day. I think he will take a wicket, maybe even 2 - but I don't think he'll cover 41 points here. The extra point is a big factor.

[b10111]

Re: Cricket: ICC World Cup 2011 IndiaxSouth AfricaxSri Lanka at 2.55 with William Hill

I have been following a few tips from most guys here but I get the feeling people keep planning or anticipating unlikely events.The quarters in this years world cup will go exactly the way the bookies have got them such that a multiple on out right winners would have paid.

The only unsure match was yesterday's as pakistan do have a habit of pulling in shockers but even then the only way West Indies could have won was if Chris Gayle had led from the front.Once he got out the match was effectively over.

Same applies to todays game,The smart money is on India whether they bat 1st or last.India have twice failed to defend 2 huge scores against SA and Eng because their bowlers are frankly rubbish but the good thing is they have one of the smartest captains around in MS Dhoni

So you can trust him to make use of the pathetic resources at his disposal. The biggest problem for Australia is the form of their players, From Ponting to Clark and now that Watson has dropped a level it’s a nightmare for them. The new guys like white and the rest have never really impressed and with an off form captain worried about runs that problem translates onto the field. The bowlers outside Lee are just pathetic aswell and the lack of a really good spinner frustrates Ponting. I can’t see Australia win this game even though India aren’t that good either.

New Zealand vs South Africa

If New Zealand beat South Africa that would be the shock of the tournament. The 1.35 being offered in some places I believe is generous. Granted it’s a quarter final doesn’t make a difference because South Africa bat and bowl better than the New Zealand Team.

Like Australia their hopes on winning are dependent on 1 or 2 batsmen firing and as we saw with the windies yesterday once those players are gone the lights turn out.

South Africa along with Pakistan have the best bowlers for the conditions. They along with Pakistan have prepared well for this tournament and believe it or not Bowlers are winning games rather than batsman.

New Zealand wont score fast like they did against Pakistan and even if the South African bowlers have an off day they still have the batsman in AB, Amla and kallis to win the game just by themselves. Duminy also loves these low bounce pitches so cant see anything other than a win for the Proteas.

SriLanka vs England

Like the Pakistan game this one is not as obvious but cant see anything going for England. Michael Yardy one of their better players has gone home and which leaves Swann as the only attacking bowler left. makes you wonder why Monty isn’t playing but either way as poor as Srilanka have been, England just don’t have the tools to win here. Yes England have had some good performances against the big teams like South Africa and England but still those games were close and it was more their opponents slipping up than them taking the initiative.

I wont discuss the 2 team’s players as none have really set this world cup alight but in this game I look at motivation. England don’t look like they really want to be out there. Yes they have never won the world cup but since the Ashes they have looked pretty flat. Srilanka also look a touch tired with a few players struggling for form but Srilanka rarely lose at home and some of these guys are due a performance.

The game may be tight but a straight win for Srilanka.

I took mine before the pakistan game at 4.5 and I await the other 3 teams to hopefully show up and complete it.

GL:hope

[BIG X]

Re: Cricket: ICC World Cup 2011 Australia v India - Australia @2.25 Bet365 More than happy to take Australia as a value punt here as I can't be having India @ 1.6ish and I would take Australia at this price against anybody in any conditions. I think India are being priced purely on the conditions here and no doubt they should favour India. However that was also the case against South Africa and England in this tournament and they failed to win either of these games. I also fancy the express pace of the Australian bowlers to really trouble the Indian batsmen. GL to ALL

[BIG X]

Re: Cricket: ICC World Cup 2011

Australia v India - Australia @2.25 Bet365 More than happy to take Australia as a value punt here as I can't be having India @ 1.6ish and I would take Australia at this price against anybody in any conditions. I think India are being priced purely on the conditions here and no doubt they should favour India. However that was also the case against South Africa and England in this tournament and they failed to win either of these games. I also fancy the express pace of the Australian bowlers to really trouble the Indian batsmen. GL to ALL

That was pretty poor shout. Tait sprayed it around like a drunk at urinal and Brett Lee wasn't much better. I certainly remember Australia looking a much better side when they stuffed England after the Ashes.

[infamous]

Re: Cricket: ICC World Cup 2011

5pts West Indies to beat Pakistan at 9/5 on Betfair

8pts India to beat Australia at 8/11 with Bluesquare

4pts Brett Lee Player Performance under 41 points with Bet365 @5/6

-5 from the Windies and then 2 winners to get back on track. +9.09 points profit today which brings total tournament profit up to +29.5 pts.

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: ICC World Cup 2011

That was pretty poor shout. Tait sprayed it around like a drunk at urinal and Brett Lee wasn't much better. I certainly remember Australia looking a much better side when they stuffed England after the Ashes.

They were in their own conditions then and England weren't particularly bothered about that series.

-5 from the Windies and then 2 winners to get back on track. +9.09 points profit today which brings total tournament profit up to +29.5 pts.

Great stuff mate. Good to see someone is fully nailing this tournament :clap:clap:clap.

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: ICC World Cup 2011 -31.11pts overall now after a frustrating day. Had Australia completed the win which they should've once Dhoni went I'd have been into the -18's and with quite a few further enhanced outrights :wall. 3 for tomorrow. 6pts New Zealand vs South Africa - Under 5.5 6's 10/11 Paddy Power This Dhaka ground aren't conducive to 6 hitting. The wicket is low and incredibly slow and the boundaries are big enough, certainly in the corners where 6's tend to get hit. South Africa don't hit too many 6's as a rule aside from AB who if he plays it doesn't sound like he'll be fully fit. New Zealand hit more 6's but with the pressure of a) this South African bowling attack and b) the pressure of knockout cricket, I'm not absolutely certain we'll see the usual fluent New Zealand. This South Africa attack won't get hit for many 6's as a rule particularly on this wicket. The Kiwi attack has the potential to go but as I say there aren't a lot of 6 hitters in the SA lineup. I don't think this line will be threatened. 1.5pts I.Tahir Top South Africa Bowler 10/3 Bet365 I think Imran Tahir will go well in this match. New Zealand have a host of right handers so Tahir will be turning the ball away from the batsman which I always think is the better way of doing things. Particularly against people like Guptill and Taylor who are massively leg side orientated. Peterson will also be doing that but he hasn't got the wrongun or the googly in his armoury that Tahir has. Steyn would rank as another danger but his pace should be lessened a bit by the fact this wicket is so slow. NZ are used to playing him anyway but we saw with the way they played Rehman, Afridi and Hafeez in the series in NZ that they don't play spin too well. Tahir would be right up there in the wicket charts but for his injury so at 10/3 I'm happy to have a punt on him skittling the most Kiwis here. 0.75pts ew N.McCullum Top New Zealand Batsman 20/1 Coral (1/5 1,2,3) I've backed this all tournament so I guess I have to back it here too in case SA get him in, which you would expect them to do. He's got all the credentials to go well here. He plays spin well and he'll be in somewhere around the powerplay time. New Zealand have played 6 ODI's on this ground with a top score of 232 with a 171 and a 173 mixed in too. That suggests when he does come in that he won't have much to get to place and maybe not much to top score either. 20/1 is a more than fair price because he can actually bat. He can rebuild or biff so I'll take the older McCullum each way here.

[slizorn]

Re: Cricket: ICC World Cup 2011 In-play bet for me. At 123-5, South Africa still have Botha, Peterson, Morkel, Steyn, Imran to bat. In 15 minutes, 2-3 wickets have been taken from South Africa. With 20 overs still to go, I feel South Africa have enough in their reserves/later batting people to go on and win this despite the stumble in the last 15 mins. With Botha now on, South Africa should stabilize and no more wickets should fall hopefully shortly after. 3pts South Africa to win @ 1.90 bet365 :hope

[slizorn]

Re: Cricket: ICC World Cup 2011

In-play bet for me. At 123-5, South Africa still have Botha, Peterson, Morkel, Steyn, Imran to bat. In 15 minutes, 2-3 wickets have been taken from South Africa. With 20 overs still to go, I feel South Africa have enough in their reserves/later batting people to go on and win this despite the stumble in the last 15 mins. With Botha now on, South Africa should stabilize and no more wickets should fall hopefully shortly after. 3pts South Africa to win @ 1.90 bet365 :hope

Its like a curse, everything I bet on seems to go horribly wrong for me. FML :wall

[owenclass]

Re: Cricket: ICC World Cup 2011 Kumar Sangakkara top sri lanka batsman 3-1 skybet his in the form of his life and i think he will score big the batsmen in the side have not done it consistant enough in this world cup so he stands out as the form batsman

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: ICC World Cup 2011 Better day for me today. Back to -28.65 overall now. One of Trott's dangers disappeared on Friday. Another one could go on Saturday although I'm on Sri Lanka to win this match at 5/6 effectively. I'm going with 2 though. 4pts England to beat Sri Lanka 7/4 Paddy Power The influence the toss has on this ground can not be forgotten. Before this tournament begun 13 of the last 14 sides batting first had won here and that continued in the Sri Lanka vs Pakistan game. Since then there's been a couple of successful chases although one was Sri Lanka against Kenya which is different to this match and then Pakistan chased down against Australia but they were only chasing 177. The fact they only got there 7 down speaks volumes about how tricky chasing is. Given it's an even money chance of winning the toss the 7/4 immediately looks big here. However even were England to lose the toss all isn't completely lost as the rain in the area on the eve of the match could've spiced the wicket up for the likes of Anderson and Bresnan. As I've said all tournament I still feel Sri Lanka's batting lineup is a genuine batsman light if not two. As long as England don't play spin awfully I fancy them here. They've had a taste of knockout cricket which could stand them in good stead and at this price it's a bit of a no brainer to back the three lions here. 1pt R.Bopara Man of the Match 25/1 Paddy Power Ravi Bopara has already won a man of the match award in this tournament against South Africa and that was without bowling. He scored 60 in that match against an attack not too dissimilar to the one he'll face here. Ian Bell is widely expected to open the innings alongside Andrew Strauss in this match so Ravi will move up a spot in the order to number 5 which could be crucial. He plays spin well as well as seam so there's no reason he can't go well with the bat. When England played SL in the World Cup in 07 he hit an unbeaten 50 so he's got the batting potential. His dibbly dobblers picked up 2 for against the Windies and helped swing the match round in England's favour and his cutters could be very useful here. Lob in the potential of a key catch here or there and I think it's fair to say we've got ourselves a big price at 25/1. If England are to win Bopara will have to contribute greatly so I'll take the chance at 25/1 on a guy who has already won an MOM in the tournament before.

[Tyler]

Re: Cricket: ICC World Cup 2011

Its like a curse, everything I bet on seems to go horribly wrong for me.

I can relate, I feel the same way. Keep ya head up though you can turn it around in no time. I been laying low in the cricket recently 'cos I'm in the middle of some fxcking wretched run. Couple I like ahead of tomorrow though: 4pts Muttiah Muralitharan Player Performance 40&Over @ 5/6 via Bet365 I can't see the great man getting less than two wickets tomorrow. This will be Murali's last match at the home of Sri Lankan cricket and I fully expect him to turn it on infront of what will be a sellout crowd. He was effectively on one leg against New Zealand but yet still somehow managed to destroy their middle order and return four wickets. He's a class act and he has a decent record at the Premadarsa. He has 71 wickets in his 52 matches where he has bowled here and I definitely feel that he will go out of international cricket with more than 72 against a stuttering England side. 4pts Mahela Jawardene (-0.5 runs) vs. Ian Bell @ 5/6 via Ladbrokes Ian Bell is 90% nailed on to open the batting with Strauss tomorrow and I think this plays into my hands perfectly. He's not in the best of touch and will have to face the tricky Malinga and either Mendis or Kula early up tomorrow which will be no easy task, especially in a hostile atmosphere in foreign conditions. He started well in the World Cup but his last three scores read 5, 5 and 27. Mahela can polish those off in no time. Thought the handicap would be a bit bigger than -0.5 so am happy to play with this. 1pt K Sangakkara Man of the Match @ 10/1 via Ladbrokes I see the man of the match being the person who scores the most runs or the person getting the most wickets. I don't really see England getting that many wickets tomorrow and Sri Lanka have enough quality bowlers for one to not stand out and take a lot more than the rest. So I reckon the MOM title will go to one of the batsman on either team. Not many stand out more than Sanga himself. He's been in great touch with the gloves and is sitting at #2 in the tournament run charts right now. Considering that this is as low as 5/1 at Paddy Power I see value in him being 10's with Laddy. A score of 70 and upwards may be enough for him and he already has four of those in this tournament already. Speculative, but worth a shot in my opinion. Small stakes.

[infamous]

Re: Cricket: ICC World Cup 2011 6pts Malinga player performance 40pts and over @5/6 with B365 Going to keep the explanation simple and brief as I'm tired. We all know how good Malinga is when on song. Has a brilliant slower ball and can fire in yorkers on demand. This wicket is not easy to bat on. I think Sri Lanka will win easily and will hence be bowling England out. If that's the case then I think Malinga easily takes 2 wickets here. He opens the bowling, bowls in the powerplay, and bowls at the death. All give him a great chance to pick up wickets.