Afridi and easy money
You know there's a higher authority at work when you set your alarm for 5.30 a.m. (to get up for the second half of the South African v Pakistan ODI), only to wake up at 3 a.m. with a voice inside your head screaming at you to get your ar$e out of bed.
Thankfully I listened and dutifully obeyed, for not only did I see Shahid Afridi in one of his "moods", cracking the second-fastest half century ever - but some kind people thought South Africa were worth betting at $2.60 when he was striding to the crease with Pakistan 222-4 in the 38th over. Even if he failed, with Razzaq, Mahmood and Malik still in the hut, there was enough firepower to get Pakistan past 300.
Even at the change of innings and over 350 on the board, Pakistan were still a generous $1.30 to win the game - never mind SAF had to do the second-highest run chase ever to win - and after 4 overs and 25-0 Pakistan were out to $1.50 ...
It restores my faith in human nature to see that betting markets can still at times over-react to the point that those causing them should be consigned to the loony bin - but hey, perhaps I should shut up as it pays for my groceries.
However there was still one twist in the tail - a blackout at the ground after 19.4 overs of the chase - which is significant as the rules of cricket require 20 overs to be completed by the team batting second for a result to be declared, and betting markets will void bets if there is no offical result.
Luckily they came back on after half an hour, otherwise the conspiracy theorists would be having a field day - it's not as if the two teams have a squeaky clean record when it comes to betting scandals is it? Still, it makes you wonder what caused it - perhaps that higher authority was having a bit of fun at my expense ...
Thankfully I listened and dutifully obeyed, for not only did I see Shahid Afridi in one of his "moods", cracking the second-fastest half century ever - but some kind people thought South Africa were worth betting at $2.60 when he was striding to the crease with Pakistan 222-4 in the 38th over. Even if he failed, with Razzaq, Mahmood and Malik still in the hut, there was enough firepower to get Pakistan past 300.
Even at the change of innings and over 350 on the board, Pakistan were still a generous $1.30 to win the game - never mind SAF had to do the second-highest run chase ever to win - and after 4 overs and 25-0 Pakistan were out to $1.50 ...
It restores my faith in human nature to see that betting markets can still at times over-react to the point that those causing them should be consigned to the loony bin - but hey, perhaps I should shut up as it pays for my groceries.
However there was still one twist in the tail - a blackout at the ground after 19.4 overs of the chase - which is significant as the rules of cricket require 20 overs to be completed by the team batting second for a result to be declared, and betting markets will void bets if there is no offical result.
Luckily they came back on after half an hour, otherwise the conspiracy theorists would be having a field day - it's not as if the two teams have a squeaky clean record when it comes to betting scandals is it? Still, it makes you wonder what caused it - perhaps that higher authority was having a bit of fun at my expense ...
Labels: cricket, post mortems
posted by Rob Crawford at 11:37 AM
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