Posted by David on November 25th , 2009 under Cricket | 
Cricket season is upon us, and it is time for Australia’s first international test of the summer. The first test of the series against the West Indies, held at the Gabba, has been proclaimed a “walkover.” On paper the Australian team quite easily outranks the West Indian, but you can never judge a match just by statistics. The weather looks excellent in Brisbane, so you can definitely expect a result from the match, and while that is most likely an Australian win, there are plenty of other things to bet on.
Betfair has a huge range of betting options – from top scores to the day when the test match will finish, to the amount of runs scored in the opening partnership. You won’t be bored watching the test, and there are plenty of good value bets.
Australia is $1.27 with Betfair to win the test, while the West Indies are right out at $15.50. The Australian odds are too short for a hobby punter like me, though expect them to be snapped up by many. Read more of this article »
Posted by Peter Evans on October 8th , 2009 under Cricket |
Now everybody loves the smell of freshly mown grass, the sound produced as leather hits willow and the thrill of being in a crowd as everyone screams HOWZAT! The 2009/10 Australian domestic cricket season is set to begin this Sunday as Western Australia and Queensland meet at the WACA in the opening game of the Ford Ranger Cup.
With spring time now well upon us, everyday people from all around Australia will be shifting their attention from the AFL over to the domestic cricket season.
As far as sports betting goes, the odds at Betfair are currently suggesting that Victoria is the team most likely to take home the Ford Ranger cup. New South Wales is currently being tipped as the team likely to be second while the odds for Western Australia suggest that are most likely going to be the third-placed team this season. South Australia and Queensland are not expected to put up much of a challenge for the Ford Ranger Cup. Read more of this article »
Tags: adelaide oval, cricket season, domestic cricket, ford ranger cup, international stars, mown grass, new south wales, Queensland, redbacks, sheffield shield, south australia, waca, western australia
Posted by Peter Evans on October 4th , 2009 under Cricket |
The ICC Champions Trophy Final is now what every cricket fan from both Australia and New Zealand are waiting for. The trans-Tasman clash for the Champions Trophy is set up to be a thriller of a match and will begin on Monday in South Africa at SuperSport Park, Centurion.
Australia
Well what can I say? After an appalling Ashes series they were able to win the following one-day series against England 6-1. Since then they have had an impressive win over the West Indies in the ICC Champions Trophy Group Stage followed by a close victory over Pakistan and then another win over the struggling England side in the semi-final.
In the semi-final we didn’t really see a lot of the batting line-up for the Aussies as Shane Watson and Ricky Ponting put down a 252-run partnership to seize a comfortable 9 wicket victory. Both batsmen scored centuries. The Australian cricket team also played a decent game in the field. Although it wasn’t the best fielding side we have ever seen, they did do a good job. Siddle took 3 wickets and Lee and Watson both bagged 2. Read more of this article »
Posted by Peter Evans on September 17th , 2009 under Cricket |
The 2009 ICC Champions Trophy is drawing nearer day by day and is all set to begin on Tuesday 22nd September. The tournament will showcase the strongest 8 international cricket teams in the world in one hell of a battle for pride and glory.
The Group Stage has been broken down as follows.
Group A
India Read more of this article »
Tags: 2009 icc champions trophy, australia, champions trophy, Cricket, England, India, new zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, sri lanka, West Indies
Posted by Peter Evans on August 19th , 2009 under Cricket |
The 5th and final test match of this year’s Ashes series is set begin this Thursday evening (Australian Time) and will be played at the Oval. It is set to be a thriller as Australia and England will both be looking to push for a win. Although Australia only requires a draw to take home the series win, past performances would suggest that the Aussies will not settle for anything less than a win. Meanwhile, England will be looking to press home any advantage they can after taking the first win of the series and then losing their lead in the 4th test. I believe that the fifth test will definitely be the best match of the Ashes series this time around and both teams will be faced with stiff competition.
Breakdown of Australia ($2.40 @ SportsBet.com.au)
Needing only a draw to take home the Ashes, the Australian’s are finally beginning to find form as the fifth test is set to begin. Read more of this article »
Posted by Peter Evans on July 30th , 2009 under Cricket |
Australia ($4.75 @ SportsBet) will be looking to get themselves back into the running for the Ashes by posting a win in the third test match at Edgbaston in Birmingham. After winning at Lord’s to take a 1-0 lead in the series, England ($7 @ SportsBet) will be looking to enhance their advantage and they have an excellent chance of doing so given the inclement weather throughout the preceding week.
With the bowling squad that Australia has at its disposal, it is difficult to envision a tie of 1-1 in the series at the end of the game. The Aussies may very well want to rethink their attack and probably get in an extra bowler in place of a frontline batsman for such a conclusion to happen. When looking at things from the other side if conditions play out as expected, there will be a lot of swing and seam, both through the air and off the pitch. These conditions will favour England. What may not favour England is the weather which may end the game early.
In my opinion, the inclusion of Steve Harmison is a must, especially with the lack of fitness that Andrew Flintoff has shown. The pair both bowl at a similar length, and they both have a tendency to extract bounce where few others have been able to in the series so far. If Phil Hughes is once again going to be batting at the top for the visitors, then the selection of Harmison becomes even more valuable, especially when you consider the hold that he had over Phil Hughes in the tour game. Read more of this article »
Posted by Roy on June 7th , 2009 under Cricket |
The Twenty20 World cup is only a few days old and already we have seen some fantastic matches and some stunning upsets.
First New Zealand survived a scare in a shortened 7 over match against Scotland and then Australia got off to a terrible start losing to the West Indies by seven wickets. The Australians were put on the backfoot in the first over when Jerome Taylor took the wickets of all rounder Shane Watson and Captain Ricky Ponting. The Australians struggled to get up any sort of momentum after that and they laboured to a pretty measly total of 169 on what was a good batting pitch. It could have been much worse though if David Warner (who is a total superstar in the making) hadn’t come in and hit his 63 runs, the Australians total was also helped along by some terrible out fielding from the West Indies. But when they came in to bat there were no such mistakes, and a fantastic laid back 88 from Captain Chris Gayle helped the West Indies wrap this game up in just 16 overs. While this will put the Australians under lots of pressure to win their next match you can never right them off. Warner has already showed that he is in good touch and if the likes of Ponting, Wastson and Mitchell Johnson can all start to fire then they can certainly still win the tournament, and with bookies now paying out $9.00 for them to do so they are certainly worth a punt. Go to sportsalive.com and sign up to recieve your free bet.
By far the biggest upset of the tournament and maybe of all time was Englands 4 wicket defeat against Holland. England went in to the match with out Kevin Pietersen, who is still resting an achilles injury, and Andrew Flintoff but they seemed not to miss them and were crusing when they lost their first wicket in the 12th over with a score of 102. A mini collapse followed and England finished on 162 thanks mainly to a fantastic 71 runs from 49 balls by Luke Wright. The total still looked beyond Holland, but thanks to a 49 off 30 balls by Tom de Grooth and mistakes by Stuart Broad and wicket keeper James Foster they found themselves going in to the last over needing just 7 runs for victory. A run a ball and an over throw by Broad on the last ball of the innings was enough for Holland to seal an amazing victory. England may have one eye on the up coming Ashes series but there really is no excuses for such a loss. England are paying $16.00 to go on and win the tournament at sportsalive.com, but with Pakistan up next for the Poms I really wouldn’t waste my money.
At sportsalive.com they are also offering great odds on individual matches, as well as top run scorers and who will hit the most sixes. Get your money on David Warner to score the most tournament runs for Australia.
Posted by Roy on June 5th , 2009 under Cricket |
THE ASHES ARE COMING. The England and Australia test series is the most well known and most anticipated test series in the world. And this year will be no different as England look for revenge after their 5-0 series embarrasment in Australia.
The Ashes series dates back to 1882 when Australia beat England on English soil for the first time and the English press printed a satirical obituary that read “ English cricket has died, and the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.” And the English have been struggling to regain them ever since.
The two sides have had some epic encounters over the years and this years series is alreading shaping up to be a massive battle between two sides that are both trying to re build.
Australia have had a lot of their key players retire in recent years. The likes of Gilchrist and Hayden will certainly be missed, but it is the blond locks of Shane Warne that they will notice missing the most. The textpert finger spinner has had the best of the English batsmen for years, from the miracle ball that bowled Mike Gatting to his forty wicket hall in the last Ashes series where he left Kevin Pieterson in a tangled mess on the floor. It is true that Australia will never find a carbon copy replacement for Warnie. Players of that calibre only come around once in a generation, but I feel that so far they haven’t even found a spinner that would be worthy of spit shinning Shane’s protective box. This means that they will be relying mainly a pace attack that includes a half fit Brett Lee and out of form Stuart Clark. Read more of this article »
Posted by Roy on May 13th , 2009 under Cricket |
The Indian Premier League is drawing to a close, but that doesn’t mean that the world’s best cricketers can put their protective boxes back in the cupboard and take a few weeks off to recuperate. Because June 5th will see the focus of the cricketing world change from South Africa to England for the second Twenty20 World Cup. India won the inaugural tournament just two years ago beating favourites Australia and Pakistan along the way to cause something of an upset. But can the team ranked third in the world defend their crown or will Pakistan get their revenge. We take a look at the top contenders and tell you were you should place your free bet from www.sportsbet.com.au
Pakistan $9.00
At $9.00 Pakistan start this Twenty20 World Cup as something of an outside bet. While there is no doubt that Pakistan have talent on the pitch with the likes of all rounder Shahid Afridi and captain Younis Khan, off field problems have knocked the confidence out of the side. The Pakistan backroom staff feel that the squad needs to work on their mental toughness have hired a psychologist to help with their preparations. But I feel that their total lack of cricket this year will mean they go in to this one totally under prepared, so if I am being honest I wouldn’t waste my money on this one. Read more of this article »
Posted by Crooksy on April 26th , 2009 under Cricket, Sports Betting News |
Don’t you just love it when the Poms start whingeing…especially if its about Australian cricketers in an Ashes year.
Just a couple of months out from the Ashes and the verbals have begun already, with Australia well and truly taking the early upper hand.
Last month English cricket officials were bemoaning the fact that some Australian cricketers were being allowed to fine tune their preparations for the Ashes by playing County cricket during April and May.
Hughes Impresses In Debut
They now have a legitimate reason to be upset – in his English debut at the hallowed grounds of Lords, Macksville’s favourite son Philip Hughes has announced himself to the English cricket community with a commanding century for Middlesex in their first innings against Glamorgan. Read more of this article »
