A sh!tload to watch this weekend
All the teams at the Champions Trophy have played one game and out of the 4 games so far, the favourites have been sunk in 3 of them. The exception was India, but they were playing England...
Hopefully that trend will continue tonight, when our beloved Blackcaps take on Sri Lanka. While SL may deserve to be favourites, the continual under-rating of the NZ cricket side continues with Betfair offering $2.50 for NZ and $1.64 for SL. Fill yer boots. Personally I'd price this $1.80 - $1.85 SL and NZ around $2.20 (pre-toss). Sri Lanka hold no fears for NZ after their semi-recent 3-1 ODI series (yes, yes I know Indian pitches are not the same as NZ ones).
Cricinfo explains the "improving" nature of Mumbai pitches is rumoured to be due to industrial adhesive being used to help bind the pitch in an effort for it to last 100 overs, but I don't know if batting first is the advantage people are making it out to be. Last Saturday WI got rolled for 80 batting first against SL, NZ turned 195 batting first into a winning score thanks to knocking the top off SAF's batting, while Australia should have overcome the loss of early wickets to chase down 235.
More to the point, whether batting first or second, the crucial factor is how well batsmen individually adapt to the pitch and Fleming showed he is a quick learner - Gilchrist too, who put away the cross-bat strokes and grafted his way to 92 before being run out. I'm expecting a gane similar to the Aus / WI one; reasonably close with scores around 220-240. Hard to pick a winner, thus the NZ price of $2.50 is value. The key batsmen for NZ - Fleming, Astle and McCullum; for SL Sangakkara and Jayawardene. Who gets in and gets set out of these 5 will determine the game. And of course how well NZ play Murali, but they've played enough games against SL for him not to be a complete mystery.
Tomorrow night sees Australia play England and there's one thing worse than a winning Australian sporting team. A losing Australian sporting team. You just know they will come out and smash whoever their poor unfortunate opponents are. Sorry England. Start thinking about the Ashes.
The weekend also sees the final of NZ's domestic rugby competition and another Tri-Nations league test. Because I watch so much sport, I find it hard to watch sport just for viewing pleasure but I have enjoyed Wellington's 2 previous games and think they have what it takes to beat Waikato at home. Wellington are $2.04 on Betfair (Waikato $1.93) and I'm almost tempted to bet, but I'll stay out of it. I can't see NZ winning the league, but Australia are at a prohibitive $1.13 and it's tempting to have a speculator on the Kiwis - however I'll keep my money in my pocket for this one as well.
Have a good weekend.
Hopefully that trend will continue tonight, when our beloved Blackcaps take on Sri Lanka. While SL may deserve to be favourites, the continual under-rating of the NZ cricket side continues with Betfair offering $2.50 for NZ and $1.64 for SL. Fill yer boots. Personally I'd price this $1.80 - $1.85 SL and NZ around $2.20 (pre-toss). Sri Lanka hold no fears for NZ after their semi-recent 3-1 ODI series (yes, yes I know Indian pitches are not the same as NZ ones).
Cricinfo explains the "improving" nature of Mumbai pitches is rumoured to be due to industrial adhesive being used to help bind the pitch in an effort for it to last 100 overs, but I don't know if batting first is the advantage people are making it out to be. Last Saturday WI got rolled for 80 batting first against SL, NZ turned 195 batting first into a winning score thanks to knocking the top off SAF's batting, while Australia should have overcome the loss of early wickets to chase down 235.
More to the point, whether batting first or second, the crucial factor is how well batsmen individually adapt to the pitch and Fleming showed he is a quick learner - Gilchrist too, who put away the cross-bat strokes and grafted his way to 92 before being run out. I'm expecting a gane similar to the Aus / WI one; reasonably close with scores around 220-240. Hard to pick a winner, thus the NZ price of $2.50 is value. The key batsmen for NZ - Fleming, Astle and McCullum; for SL Sangakkara and Jayawardene. Who gets in and gets set out of these 5 will determine the game. And of course how well NZ play Murali, but they've played enough games against SL for him not to be a complete mystery.
Tomorrow night sees Australia play England and there's one thing worse than a winning Australian sporting team. A losing Australian sporting team. You just know they will come out and smash whoever their poor unfortunate opponents are. Sorry England. Start thinking about the Ashes.
The weekend also sees the final of NZ's domestic rugby competition and another Tri-Nations league test. Because I watch so much sport, I find it hard to watch sport just for viewing pleasure but I have enjoyed Wellington's 2 previous games and think they have what it takes to beat Waikato at home. Wellington are $2.04 on Betfair (Waikato $1.93) and I'm almost tempted to bet, but I'll stay out of it. I can't see NZ winning the league, but Australia are at a prohibitive $1.13 and it's tempting to have a speculator on the Kiwis - however I'll keep my money in my pocket for this one as well.
Have a good weekend.
posted by Rob Crawford at 11:55 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home