Blog

Interesting day yesterday with New Zealand securing a brilliant victory off the last ball against Pakistan and England annihilating South Africa. Salman Butt played an excellent mature innings for Pakistan whilst his team mates threw wickets away chasing an eminently gettable 138. Alas it was not enough and whilst Pakistan fans will point to the catch of Afridi that actually bounced just in front of Nathan McCullum's fingers there is no excuse for not chasing down a total that small in T20. The Barbados pitch remains true and England took full advantage to score 168 which was more than enough for victory.

Umar Akmal thanked me for my tip by gloving a first ball bouncer straight through to Hopkins as he failed to drop his hands out of the way. Michael Lumb was more accomodating, getting out to Botha to keep the 1st wicket partnership to just 4, well under the 19.5 runs that I had called for.

Today India will beat West Indies and knock the host side out of the tournament. West Indies were woeful against Sri Lanka on Friday in a display which included one of the worst drops in international history as Andre Fletcher stood statue still and watched the ball drop 2 yards from his gloves. Whilst both sides have been kindly holding the door to qualification open for other teams West Indies will be the team to insist, "No sir, after you". Dwayne Bravo marauded around the field with anger in his eyes as tried to make up for his team mates lack of effort on Friday and I like the over on his points line of 34.5* at CricketBetLive as he looks to inspire his team.

The second game pitches the best batsman in the tournament (Jayawardene) against the best bowler (Nannes) and should be great to watch unless Jayawardene gets out and the one man Sri Lankan team collapses like a house of cards. The Tiger's reliance Jayawardene is reflected in the odds with Australia strong favourites. With Dilshan's demotion to number four on Friday no one is making a line on his run total pre-game so you'll have to be ready to bet live. It's my favourite bet in the whole tournament so I'll be looking out for it. Other than that WillHill have the Australia 1st wicket line at 30.5 which is as much 7 runs higher than other bookies and I like the under here.

Top pick of the day is the under on Dilshan's run total. Good luck and if you want live tips during the game follow me on Twitter.

* - 20 points per wicket, 25/stumping, 10/catch, 1/run

By TwitterButtons.com