England v India

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England v India – 4th ODI

The betting in this series has been somewhat surprising in every match, and tonight is no different. The surprising thing tonight is that, given the prices in the previous matches, England are not shorter. They welcome back Andrew Flintoff, after having a game off, and this is a massive boost to an already firing bowling attack. India have simply been out of sorts generally but the fielding has been absolutely abysmal, you wouldn’t find a single first grade side in the whole of Australia fielding worse than they have so far. After tipping up India in the previous two games I won’t be suggesting the same again tonight. The England side just seems so confident and hungry at the moment and the Indians just aren’t doing themselves justice in any department. They are unlikely to find Old Trafford to their liking either, being the quickest ground in the country, and I think this is one game to swerve them. I’d suggest the prices are just about at the right levels. No Bet.

As mentioned previously, England welcome back Andrew Flintoff tonight and he will be keen to put on a show for his loyal home fans tonight. Fred bowled superbly in both games since his comeback from injury, surprisingly given how little match practice he’d had, and seems to really have the bit between his teeth. He is bowling with pace and venom and the Indians don’t really fancy it. Old Trafford is just about the quickest pitch in England and Flintoff will enjoy peppering the Indians with plenty of the short stuff. It is due to his superb form with the ball, and the fact that he has the wood on the Indians, that I am tipping a small buy of Flintoff’s performance tonight. Player perf’s work on a 1/run, 10/catch and 20/wicket basis and I think Fred’s a little light at 53-58 at Sporting Index. Though he’s not quite hit his straps with the bat he can still be destructive, and has a great pair of hands in the field. I’d have him in for about 61 points personally (24 in runs, 33 in wickets and 4 in catches) so would suggest a 0.05 point buy at the 58.
Andrew Flintoff player performance, buy 0.05 pts at 58: Sporting Index.

Sports Acumen have matched the Prince of Calcutta, Sourav Ganguly, up against Matt Prior in a runs match bet tonight and I like GinGan. Ganguly is looking pretty solid at the moment and looks in decent touch as well. In contrast, Matt Prior looks totally out of sorts with the bat and I’m not sure how long England can continue with him opening. He did make 30 odd in the last match but he must have played and missed at least a dozen times before he had got to ten. If I were him I’d have gone out and bought a lottery ticket that night such is my amazement at how many times he narrowly missed the ball without nicking it. For further evidence we just need to look at their comparative records - Ganguly averages 42 in 298 matches, passing fifty 91 times (30% of the time), he averages 43 in the last 10 matches with three fifties. Prior averages 23 in 18 matches, 16 of which he has opened, passing fifty only once. Also, I’m not sure what Prior’s nickname is but I bet it pales into insignificance when compared to “The Prince of Calcutta”. I’d have the Prince at about $1.72 for this one and so suggest 2 points on him to win.
Ganguly to beat Prior runs match bet, 2 pts at $1.80: Sports Acumen

Plays of the day
Andrew Flintoff player performance, buy 0.05 pts at 58: Sporting Index.
Ganguly to beat Prior runs match bet, 2 pts at $1.80: Sports Acumen .