Cricket trading expert cornerman casts his beady eye over the second T20 in Dubai
England do battle again in Dubai against Pakistan on the same pitch as the 1st t20 game, and possible the same strip. Before we have a look at the odds, let’s take a look at a few pointers from the 1st game.
What did we learn from the 1st game?
- The pitch is slow and scoring shots behind the wicket was difficult
- Batting 1st is an advantage as the pitch slows up through the course of the game
- Zia is the new boom boom, as Nasser would say ‘See ball, hit ball’
- Once you get in, stay in. It’s a hard pitch to come in straight away and score on, especially with the ball reversing near the end of the innings.
- Take advantage of the powerplays, while the ball is still hard and new.
- Bopara and KP look in great touch, Kieswetter and Morgan look out of touch
- Unlikely to be many caught behinds due to the slow nature of the pitch.
Advised bets based on this
- Zia – Race to 10 runs – 23/20 bet365.
Zia bats number 2 which mean Hafeez will face the 1st ball of the game. Zia showed he’s in there to blast over the infield in the 1st 6 and it looks like Hafeez will be aggressive but not super aggressive like the new boom boom. Back him to get off to a flyer again! - KP – Race to 10 runs – 10/11 bet365.
KP will face the first ball and was on 13 last game before Kieswetter had even faced a ball. Kevin is seeing the ball like a beach ball at the moment. I suggest Pakistan open with spin against him rather than Khan or Cheema, but based on the form of the two players, it would be silly to ignore this bet. - Under 150.5 runs Pakistan – 5/6 Ladbrokes
- Under 150.5 runs England – 5/6 Ladbrokes
Both teams struggled to get up to 150 last game and a run rate of 7.50 on this slow pitch with reverse swing will be tough, especially batting second. You get two bites at the cherry with this bet, because if team 1 gets under 151, both selections are winners, but if the 1st bet losses, then the other team might not chase down the 151 anyway. So have a point on each, with it difficult to bat 2nd, will be very unlucky to lose both, with a good chance of scooping
5. Kieswetter under 37.5 performance points – 5/6 bet365
If you’ve never backed performance points, you get 1 point a run, 10 catch, 25 stumping, 20 for a wicket. Kieswetter looked out of sorts in game 1, finding it hard to middle the ball. With the slow nature of the pitch, there were no caught behinds last game, which means it will be hard for to Kieswetter to accumulate 38 points unless he gets a stumping or has a blinder with the bat, both looking unlikely at this stage.
6. 1st 6 tie – 25/1 – William Hill
Amazing stat, but the last three t20 games on this pitch have had tied scores after 6 overs. Back the trend and hope it happens a 4th time!
7. Bopara Man of the Match – 14/1 – bet365
Other than KP, Bopara looked like he could handle the conditions, scoring twos freely and looked at ease with pace on the ball and spin. He’ll also bowl a couple of overs so if England record a victory he could well be the player to hit the winning runs.
Weekend Football
City v Blackburn –
Blackburn have scored in every away game this year, if it wasn’t for this stat, we’d take City to Nil as the banker for the weekend. Trying to find a profitable angle when City are 1/5 isn’t easy. City have won 3 of their last 4 games 3-0 at home, Tottenham 3-2 in between so given the strength of the opposition, this looks a fair price. In the three 3-0s, the HT score was 2-0 everytime, so have a small wager on that as well.
City 3-0 -15/2 – Coral
City 2-0 Half time 9/2 Lads
City score both halves – 8/11 Tote
Norwich v United -
Man Utd have played 12 games away from home this season and have been leading 1-0 at HT on six of those.
United 1-0 Half time 11/4 Coral
Arsenal v Tottenham
This game always has goals. Back both teams to score or for a more adventurous bet, go for over 5.5 goals or the 4-4 correct score as in 2008.
Over 5.5 goals – 6/1 general
Correct Score 4-4 – 250/1 general
