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So I'm back after a break that was partly due to being on holiday but mostly due to laziness and I'm staring at the slate for the 2nd Australia-Pakistan test and trying to find inspiration. The first thing to be aware of is that the weather forecast is awful, heavy showers for the first 3 days according to the BBC. That means that an obvious choice is the draw at 2.8 on Betfair. Australia needed all of four days to beat Pakistan at Lords, even with a 15 wicket day, and it doesn't look like they'll get that long in Leeds.

With that bit of bad news out of the way let's have a look at some player bets. On Betfair you can back Katich to ourscore his cultureless, cretinous, blond twat of an opening partner, Watson, at 1.87. Given that conditions will likely be tough and that Twatto has the finesse of a gorilla with parkinsons trying to use an iPhone this seems rather attractive. Our friends at CricketBetLive have a special line on when, if at all, Ponting will score his 12,000 run during the test. The Aussie skipper averages over 100 at Headingly it's tempting to back him to get the 46 runs required at some point in the test. However, given the short odds (effectively 1.5 if you back both 1st and 2nd innings) and the immense pleasure of watching him get out I'm leaving this one alone.

More attractive, in my view, is Kamran Akmal under 94.5 points for the test*. Although he averages 97.5 points per test he is not in great form with the bat and isn't very likely to get any stumpings at Headingley. Add to that his infalible ability to drop catches against Australia and you have what sub-continental bookmakers refer to as a "sure-thing".

In another head-to-head offering from CBL you can back Asif to get more wickets than Hilfenhaus at evens. Asif averages 5 wickets per test whilst Hilfenhaus averages 4 and has never taken more than 5 in a single test. There's some risk here that Australia may only bat once but I still like this given that Hilfy takes so few wickets.

Favourite bet is the draw. I will update thoughts via Twitter throughout the match and you can always follow the live advice of Daniel and Nigel as they turn the Sofa account into our retirement fund.

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

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