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This Weeks Sports Betting Preview – By Rick Elliott 

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 England Can Continue The Qualifying Run In Montenegro 

All three British teams and Ireland won their opening fixtures in Euro 2020 qualifying but England were the most impressive. The team on the pitch at the end of the 5-0 win over Czech Republic included two teenagers for the first time for over 100 years. Gareth Southgate does not concur with the adage that you can’t win anything with kids because he will play youngsters if he thinks they are good enough. The semi-finals and final of Euro 2020 are at Wembley and ENGLAND could be running around the stadium with the trophy and that outcome is 13/2 with Ladbrokes. 

The process for qualifying for the finals being played in 13 cities across Europe next summer continues for England with a match in Montenegro tonight. They did not drop a point during qualifying for Euro 2016 and potentially England can win maximum points from the group this time. Twenty one wins in the last 23 qualifiers suggests England breeze through the qualifying process against teams below them in the FIFA rankings. Montenegro’s star player, Steven Jovetic of Monaco, is absent through injury and ENGLAND are the bet at 4/11 with Paddy Power.  

The Indian Premier League is the lucrative Twenty20 tournament that brings together some of the best limited overs cricketers in the world playing for eight franchises. The teams pay for a fortune to attract the best players in the format. Matches are played on a home and away basis and a playoff series won by Chennai last year. The RAJSTHAN ROYALS have Ben Stokes among their overseas stars and can improve on their fourth place finish during the 2018 regular season. Jos Buttler opens for the Royals and he can help his team win the 2019 IPL at 8/1 with Ladbrokes. 

The Grand National takes place a week on Saturday and Tiger Roll could be the shortest priced favourite for over 40 years. The horse has a great chance to become the first back-to-back winner since Red Rum in 1973 and 1974. However, BRISTOL DE MAI ran a great race to be third in the Cheltenham Gold Cup and has been allocated a manageable weight and is the better option at 25/1 with Paddy Power.  It’s all about the Flat this Saturday with the Lincoln Handicap and Dubai World Cup taking place at Doncaster and Meydan and we’ll preview both races this week. 

The Vitality Blast – 20/20 Season Hits England – By Dave Owens

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The 20/20 season arrives in the English county calendar next week and whilst lacking the fanfare and prestige of its Indian and Australian counterparts in the IPL and the Big Bash, it will be played in the height of summer in front of full houses and having regular coverage on TV and offer plenty of betting opportunity in the coming weeks.

20/20 cricket acts as the great leveller for the counties who are split by not just two divisions in the four-day county championship but also finance and the ability to attract or hold on to the best players at their respective clubs. It is a fact highlighted by the tournament being won by 11 of the 18 counties in its 14-year existence and arguably one of the poorest teams in terms of financial capacity Leicestershire the county that has won the tournament the most times with them picking up the trophy on three occasions.

The short nature of the 20 over season and the financial rewards of a visit to finals day allow certain teams to target the 20/20 competition and bring in a couple of overseas imports and 20 over specialists to allow a more level playing field than the four-day competition would allow where the stronger squads and star players flock to the biggest and best sides in division 1 of the championship.

The result of this can make bookmaking this format quite tricky with sides setting up with different players than in previous campaigns and batting line ups and bowling combinations not really known until the tournament gets under way. Another factor to consider is the loss of England players to the specific counties as they are engaged in a series against India and the availability of overseas players with international commitments springing up with increasing regularity due to packed international schedule.

The opening match sees last years finalists Warwickshire and the holders Nottinghamshire go head to head next Wednesday and will be interesting to see how the champions line up and if they can set down an early marker for their defence in the campaign ahead.

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Irelands Exciting Test Debut – A Good News Story for Crickets Minnows – By Dave Owens

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English Uncertainty Could Offer Hope To Pakistan

England start their summer test series against Pakistan this week with the rare occurrence of most of their line up either playing for their place of embarking on a new role within the starting line-up. A poor winter that saw a heavy loss in the Ashes and then a further series defeat against New Zealand has saw the English hierarchy looking to freshen things up for the two-test series against Pakistan before England take on India later in the summer.

Both openers in Cook and Stoneman will have the focus on them. Cook has been a fantastic performer for over a decade but endured a very difficult winter where aside from on fantastic innings he struggled to score and after 12 years of playing at the highest, its been questioned how long he’d go on if his struggles continue this summer. Along side Cook is Mark Stoneman –  a player who has not grabbed his opportunity at the top of the order and gets another go due to lack of other candidates as opposed to weight of runs.

The surprise selections of Buttler and Bess has meant that the move of Joe Root to No 3 in the order has gone slightly under the radar. England’s best player has long stated his preference to bat at 4 in the order which has caused long debate about whether that is best for the team with England not having found a 3 since Trott’s retirement and England’s problems at the top of the order. A similar situation is the No 5 spot where Johnny Bairstow gets moved up from No 7 and is now going to utilised as a front-line batsman to go with his keeping. Ben Stokes makes a return to the England line up at home, since his much-publicised absence after a night out in Bristol and a difficult IPL where he didn’t not perform to the standards he has in the past.

Most eyes will be on the two most stand out selections of Jos Buttler and Dominic Bess. Buttler is selection that no one really saw or predicted with his amazing form in the IPL being rewarded with a call up for the England test match side. He is a fine talent who has not quite nailed test cricket yet and will intriguing to see how he goes this time. Bess is another fascinating pick, at 20 years of age and with only 16 first class games under his belt it will be very interesting to see how he handles test match cricket and how Pakistan attempt to play him and if they attack the young debutant when he gets his first bowl in a test match atmosphere.

England are rightly favourites with an excellent record at home and with conditions usually favouring their new ball attack of Anderson and Broad who have excelled at home for years on end. The pitch at Lords is usually pretty good for batting and does not tend to deteriorate much over the course of a game. A good first day or two for Pakistan (especially with the bat) could well put some pressure on an England side where there are a lot of question marks over a lot of players and see some good potential for a few in-play bets depending on the state of the game. Either it will be interesting to see how England’s players perform with quite a few points to prove.

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This Weeks Sports Betting Preview – By Rick Elliott

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It’s The Cup Final And Royal Wedding This Saturday

The Premier League season is now over and there were few major shocks on the last day. Liverpool secured the last place in the Champions League and Chelsea missed out. If Liverpool beat Real Madrid in this year’s final qualification won’t go down to fifth place. The only routes to the competition next season are finishing in the top four or winning the Champions League or Europa League. Marseille meet ATLETICO MADRID in the final of the latter in Lyon on Wednesday. The Spanish team are 1/3 with William Hill to lift the trophy and 4/6 with Ladbrokes to win the match in 90 minutes. The winners gain entry into the Champions League.

The biggest match in English football takes place on Saturday when Manchester United and Chelsea meet in the FA Cup Final. As President of the FA Prince William usually presents the trophy but he has a prior engagement this year. He has to attend a function at an iconic venue in the London area. There are two factions involved, everybody will drink too much and there could be a big fight at the end. That could be the Royal Wedding or the Cup Final. Whatever transpires at Windsor Csatle in the afternoon MANCHESTER UNITED are the favourites at 8/11 with Paddy Power to win the Cup. Before Saturday there are huge matches in the Championship Playoffs, Fulham at home to Derby and Middlesbrough at Aston Villa.

The Dante Stakes at York has become established as the best trial for the Derby. The winner of the race is often made the favourite for the Epsom Classic but this year that is unlikely. It will take a special performance to usurp Saxon Warrior as the favourite for the Derby. The Dante is the highlight of the three day York May meeting from Wednesday to Friday that also features the Yorkshire Cup. The Lockinge Stakes is a Group 1 race over one mile and that takes place at Newbury on Saturday and ADDEYBB is the ante post favourite at 5/1 with bet365.

In tennis the countdown continues for the second Grand Slam tournament of the season, the French Open in Paris which begins in two weeks. There are men’s and women’s clay court events in Rome and the favourite for the ATP tournament is RAFAEL NADAL at 4/9 with Coral. In golf there are tournaments in the States and Europe and the IPL continues in cricket but the biggest event is the Cup Final.

English Struggles in The IPL – Players Playing Catch Up To Long Standing Teams And Settled Line Ups – By Dave Owens

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After years of under-representation in the world’s biggest T20 tournament, 12 England internationals were selected for this years IPL, as well as Jofra Archer, who hopes to qualify to represent England in the future. Its been a tough and challenging time for the English invasion with a large section not being able to break into their franchise side and the guys playing not performing as they and their team would have hoped.

The IPL has been running for 10 years now and most of the sides recruit on continuity and previous success they have had with players from previous campaigns. It’s a strategy that makes a lot sense with 20/20 cricket very much a case of finding balance in a side and players to perform very specific roles within the 20 overs. Opening the batting is generally requiring a fast scorer who can take advantage of the first 6 over restrictions. A specialist “death” bowler who can bowl Yorkers, slower balls and lots variation as well as have a steady nerve, balance in bowling as well with a big emphasis on quality spin, but also with good pace in reserve for the different pitch’s and opposition encountered.

This emphasis on selecting players who have performed well for a franchise in the past and are lined up to play a specific role in teams line up has had an adverse effect on a lot of the English players who have not played or performed in the IPL before and as such are used more as back up to the tried and tested player when sides select their four overseas players. Billings, Wood, Roy, Woakes, Mooen Ali, Hales and Jordan have hardly played a match between them.

Interestingly the most successful Englishman in the tournament so far is Jos Buttler with an excellent 320 runs to his name and scores of 67, 51 and 82 in his last three innings which has saw him as his team’s top scorer in the last three games. Unlike his fellow countrymen this is Buttler’s third IPL and he is a known quantity for his exploits in previous tournaments and very much selected with a clear role in his side and a starting place guaranteed. He has kept wicket in every game and has started as a lower order finisher at the start of the tournament and as the season has progressed used his power hitting at the front of the innings.

With England’s ever improving form in the shorter format, it could well see more English players playing in the IPL and hopefully taking their chances and making themselves an integral part of the franchise sides which would benefit both the individual and England team with exposure to the pressure cooker environment of playing in front of millions in India takes on.

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ECB Achieve The Impossible – Uniting English Cricket in Opinion of 100 Ball Competition Proposal – By Dave Owens

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It’s not often, if ever, that the English Cricket Board can unite the English viewing public and media across all 18 of the Counties in first class cricket.  It does appear that they have managed it though with the proposal of their new 100 ball tournament. Its claimed to a simpler format than those already played with 14 standards six ball overs and the last over of each innings then leaping to a ten ball over to finish the innings which equates to 100 balls in total. This is supposed to be easier to understand for the non-cricket public than 20 overs of the standard six ball over that has been a massive hit in Australia with kids and women being introduced to the game in this format for years now and the ECB have been desperate to emulate.

The reaction has been a mixture of anger and ridicule at the idea, with it appearing that the ECBs response to the massive 20 over competitions taking place across the world that seem to grow form strength to strength and bring in the new generation of viewers to the game, is not to tap into what works with them, but come up with some new “cool” version of the game that has never been seen before.

For years England’s 20/20 competition has been light years behind the Big Bash and IPL. It took a while but the penny finally dropped that it needed to catch up and has been on its way to achieving it with it being played in a block on its own in the heart of the English summer with lots of the match’s being played on Friday evening’s for the start of most people’s weekends and drawing big crowds and also big name players around the world who were now moving across the glove to play in the improving competition.

The move in the right direction has benefited everyone. Counties, getting ground’s packed and money in the coffers which is a god send for most who struggle financially. The players themselves playing in a higher standard and more publicised English competition and the ECB who for once seemed to be driving the vehicle in the right direction.

It will be interesting to see how things pan out, and if the ECB listen to the reaction of what they’ve put on offer or if they try to sell the seemingly unsellable.

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The Return of The Universe Boss – Gayle Lights up IPL – By Dave Owens

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The self-named “Universe Boss” Chris Gayle has made a stunning return to the IPL in the last three games. Gayle was overlooked by all other sides in the auction and a very late, last minute pick for Kings XI Punjab. He was left out of the first two matches for Kings XI and the feeling was that he might be coming to the end of his highly successful and highly eventful time in the Indian Premier League.

After a slow start with the bat in the tournament with the bat for the Kings XI, it was decided to role the dice and give Gayle a game in their third match to see if he could reproduce some of his old magic. He responded by smashing 63 from just 33 balls against the Chennai Super Kings in a blistering 96 run stand with the impressive KL Rahul in just 8 overs. This was then followed by an amazing 104 not out and 62 not out in his next two and only innings so far and is the story of the IPL so far in 2018.

No player quite epitomises the shifting sands of modern cricket from Test match cricketer to 20/20 gun for hire around the world like Gayle. He has 11,297 runs in a thirteen-year career (and counting) and is well over 2000 more runs than anyone else and his skill which has made him the 20/20 icon for the game six hitting sees him with a career of 840 times clearing the rope well over 300 more than anyone else has managed in the 20/20 game.

Just as well known for his colourful personality and image off the field in which he landed himself in hot water for “inappropriate” comments made to a female Australian interviewer mid-way through a Big Bash game, gave himself the nickname of “Universe Boss” and would widely use twitter to promote himself in the media, describing the King XI manager Virender Sehwag as “saving the IPL” by managing to select Gayle and keep him in the IPL in 2018.

It will be fascinating to see if Gayle can keep up his electrifying form so far. He has hit on an excellent opening partnership with the highly impressive KL Rahul who has managed to break the IPL record of the fastest 50 from just 14 balls already in this tournament. High quality and fast scoring opening partnerships certainly can open some sub markets opportunity’s in 20/20 cricket. The markets for “Highest opening partnership” and “Highest total after 6 overs” are pretty much set out with quite standard odds with them being priced up on historical scores rather than the current individuals participating in this specific time of the match. Will certainly be worth keeping an eye on the highly promising partnership of Gayle and Rahul and weather they can keep their blistering form going in this regard.

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England’s Unsolvable Equation – Climate and Scheduling – By Dave Owens

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England’s test match woes over the winter has been the peak in a steady regression for the side in the longest format of the game. It’s come at a time where England’s one day side have been on a steady and consistent up curve for a few years, culminating in them being one of the most feared sides in the 50 and 20 over format – saw 12 English players picked up by the IPL and priced up as early favourites for the world cup.

England’s problems (certainly overseas) has been the inability to produce fast bowlers, high quality spinners and batsman capable of batting long innings and produce scores of well over 100. It’s a problem that is not easily remedied. The first round of County Championship matches has just finished and has been the familiar story of ball totalling dominating bat with wickets in April generally damp, green tinged and loaded totally in favour of the bowlers with accurate medium pacers able to hit a consistent line and length and picking up large hauls of wickets. A situation where a spinner would not be really required for a side. Pace bowling not really required with the pitches on the slow side and nagging accuracy a more potent weapon and batsman are batting in the knowledge they have a potentially unplayable ball just around the corner.

The most obvious solution would be to play the majority of the 4-day match’s in the Hight of summer in the months of July and August. This would see pitches at their best with flatter wickets in warmer conditions with batsman able to bat with more confidence and the need for a quality spinner or bowler with pace to get something out of a wicket where just bowling line and length would ensue success. The problem being that with not much money in the county game and some clubs basically basing their survival of the success and full houses which generates the income from the 20/20 blast competition. The prime months of summer are full of 20/20 cricket with no 4-day game in sight.

There is no obvious solution to the predicament of trying to get too much cricket to fit into such a short time in the British summer. For now, though, the sun is shining, and the pitches could dry out quicker than usual to allow both formats to flourish in the coming months ahead. Here is hoping for the sun to shine and the early cricket to not be its usual damp and soggy affair.

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The Indian Premier League – Crickets Biggest And Best Cricket Festival – By Dave Owens

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It’s just over 10 years since the IPL arrived and changed cricket forever. 20/20 cricket was at first an English experiment with the ECB originally trying out the format in place of one of the regular 50 over tournaments to try and create a new energy and following to the sport. It wasn’t until the birth of the Indian Premier league that the cricketing landscape dramatically shifted to the shortest format of the game with millions pumped into the league and the best players from across the globe signed up to play franchise cricket in a six-week block.

The knock-on effect has seen 20/20 leagues spring up all around the globe now and players playing all year round with the Australian Big Bash, the Pakistan Super League, the English T20 blast vying for similar success to that of the IPL.

It is also by far the most bet on cricket tournament as well, with punters all around the world betting on every game with the worlds best players fighting it out in front of packed houses of wild Indian support for their teams. As with the fast paced and relentless schedule of 20/20 leagues with games taking place every day and sometimes two on the same day, information on team selection and batting orders for teams becomes vital for bookmaker and punter alike.

Such is the interest in the IPL that each side has now set up its own website with news, previews and interviews taking place and can be a useful place to glean information regarding a team’s plan for a player. The nature of franchise cricket sees quite a random mix of players from around the world thrown together with Indian stars and exciting and slightly unknown Indian talent. The format allows sides to pick four overseas players for any one game and often teams chopping and changing these players whilst they look for the best balance and formula for their specific teams.

The opening salvos begin on Saturday and will make interesting viewing from a fans and punters perspective to begin to decipher what each side is looking to do with its resources and who they will use in what role for the coming games and extracting value from the subsequent pricing up of markets.

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Rotation in Cricket and Goodbye KP – By Dave Owens

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The tri series between India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka has just come to a thrilling end with a semi final ending in dramatic scenes with Bangladesh miraculously managing to score 12 off the last 4 balls to win a game they had all but lost, followed by an even more dramatic final where India needed a 6 off the last ball to overturn Bangladesh and Dinesh Kartick managing to clear the ropes to win the trophy in the most dramatic fashion.

The series was not given much build up or coverage due to India resting lots of their star players and playing squad and fringe players in the tournament.

Cricket regularly seems to take a dim view of players missing match’s series or tournaments. In this sense its quite far behind football in its thinking with regards to resting and rotating players. The advent of the Champions league saw the top Premier league clubs having to fight hard in three or even four competitions and having to juggle the demands of travel in Europe with playing twice a week in hard fought contests. The result of which saw teams come to the realisation that it was not merely enough to have a strong first XI but realistically needed a squad of players that could compete and play in any game and any competition.

Cricket like football has now evolved into a sport where competition and internationals are taking place all throughout the calendar year. It’s not remotely realistic that someone like Virat Kohli can play in all three formats of Test cricket, 50 over cricket and 20 over cricket for India as well as play in tournaments spanning months like the IPL for a franchise side. Cricket supporters enjoy the opportunity to watch action all around the world, all year round but must realise that its now a changing landscape where players are going to have to be rested and rotated to keep them fit and healthy for the biggest tournaments and series.

The result of which still produces exciting cricket to watch as the tremendously fought tri series produced. It also offers viewers and players an opportunity to see exciting young talent like 18-year-old Washington Sundar appear and take a leading role for India.

From a betting perspective it can offer some good opportunities with bookmakers not having seen a cluster of players perform at the highest level and able to form accurate perceptions of their value in a field. Sundar and Thakur were big odds winners in the Top India bowling market with firms unsure as to how to price these players with few games at the highest level to form opinion on.

Finally, just a note on the retirement of Kevin Pietersen. The most exciting and entertaining batsman I’ve seen in an England shirt in the last 25 years. Known as much if not more for his not always easy to swallow personality and attitude (especially with team mates), but key participant in the greatest test series of all the 2005 Ashes win, an away series win in Australia and some of the most exhilarating and unmissable innings you could ever see at the highest level of cricket. Thanks for the memories Kev!

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