by ben
28. July 2010 13:01
So I had an absolute shocker with the Australia-Pakistan test picking the draw as my favourite bet! My folly was pointed out well before the match by CricketBetLive's owns Goldie (follow him on twitter) and as always he was right. Despite that the rest of my shouts were pretty good even with bloody Hilfenhaus sneaking a fifth wicket in the test right at the end to make the bet versus Asif a push.
This week, as well as the lines for the 1st test, CBL have various series bets up as well. I like the under on Matt Prior's series line of 335.5 points* as he averages 82 points per match and there could easily be a couple of second innings that he doesn't get to bat in. The other series line I like is over 305.5 runs in the series for Andrew Strauss. He's in decent enough form having scored 154 against Bangaldesh in the final ODI and an average of 38 for the series doesn't seem too onerous. There are also some series spread bets I like. Spread bets pay out depending on how right you are. If you go over Strauss' runs line of 75, for example, and he scores 100 you would be paid £25 but if he scored a duck you would lose £75. This is obviously higher risk but potentially higher reward way of betting. I like the highest individual score in the series to be under 175 and the highest partnership in the series to be under 220 (both at Extrabet). The combination of two strong bowling attacks and Pakistan's batting lend me to these.
On to the test itself and I like under 299.5 for Pakistan's first innings on CBL, especially at better than evens. They couldn't manage a score over 300 against Australia in the two recent tests and England's bowling line is better than the Aussie's. For spread bets the under 24 on Pakistan "ton ups" (total runs over individual 100s in the match) looks good with a weak batting side against a strong bowling side.
Our coverage starts tomorrow at 10.45am and as usual we'll be updating listeners throughout the day with our in-play picks. Pick of the test is Pakistan < 299.5 for the first innings. Good luck.
* 20 points per wicket, 1/run, 10/catch, 25/stumping.
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