Blog

We saw yesterday that the St Lucia track is a perfectly good one and all the talk of it being slow is somewhat misplaced. The average score there so far is 163 (even including Afghanistan's 163) and the big boundaries mean it remains a reasonably balanced pitch. India's talent shone through against South Africa and they set a target that always looked beyond reach. Australia too piled on the runs batting first and they have the sort of line up that could chase down anything. Even the bizarre 5 wicket maiden in the last over was far too late for Pakistan who never got close, losing wickets regularly and unable to handle Australia's pace attack. Australia have done well to avoid Guyana entirely in tournament as spin is their weakness and they only needed 5 overs from a combination of Hussey, Clarke and Smith yesterday.

My top pick was for India to score over 157.5 which they did handsomely. I was too smart arsed with my David Warner bet and should have stuck with the over 21.5 runs rather than pitting him against Shane Watson as the Pakistani fielders contrived to drop him about 4 times. Afridi couldn't snag a wicket and after that it was always going to be a tough ask to get over his points line of 37.5*. He nearly managed it with a quickfire 33 but it was not to be. My other player performance bet on Dhoni was a long way off as he only faced 6 balls after Raina's century and couldn't get a catch or stumping.

With Sri Lanka playing Zimbabwe in the first game today in Guyana I have the chance to put my favourite tournament bet on, under Dilshan's run total. It's 21.5 for this match at CricketBetLive and I'm shorting him till he regains his form. With the late withdrawal of Murali from the tournament with injury Sri Lanka go into this must win game without their star and I think Zimababwe have a shot. The Tigers certainly won't be taking them lightly after warm up victories against Australia and Pakistan but at 6/1 on Betfair I could resist a punt. I wish I could find a way to bet the over on Ray Price snarls in the match but alas no joy.

At 6.30pm BST England will be the final team to enter the tournament pitched against West Indies. It looks to be another low scoring afair in Providence with England stuffed with slow bowling options (Swann, Yardy, Pietersen & Collingwood) and a sticky wicket expected. On paper England should cruise this match with hitters at the top, quality in the middle and hitters lower down to give them the perfect T20 batting line up. They have flexibility on the bowling front with a collection of part timers to provide cover if someone starts getting smacked around. The only bet I have any confidence in is under 147.5 runs in the first innings at CricketBetLive.

So top pick today is Dilshan to score under 21.5 runs. Good luck.

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