ICC Champions Trophy - Saturday betting

Two more games in the ICC Champions Trophy are here and after England blew Sri Lanka out of the water, Group A is looking for interesting - especially if you are a South African supporter!

Australia vs West Indies
In the first game of the day Australia and the West Indies clash at 9:30.

With all due respect to the West Indies (which isn't very much) I don't see how Australia could lose this game and the bookies don't either. I don't even think they have the firepower for an upset.

I've gone with:

• Ricky Ponting as the top Aussie batsman
• Devon Smith as the top West Indian batsman

India vs. Pakistan
Boy oh boy does this game have the potential to be a cracker...

The two old rivals are at it again and there is a lot riding on this fixture in terms of who goes through to the knockout rounds. There is nothing to choose between the two sides and I anticipate a tight game.

Bets I've placed:

• Rahul Dravid - top Indian batsman
• Shahid Afridi and Mohamad Youssuf - top Pakistan batsman

Helluva interesting tournament so far although I have to say I've been surprised by some very stilted batting performances.

Best T20 bowler

Jawad and I were having a bit of a chat about the best T20 in the game and I rather grandiosely (is that a real word?) proclaimed that Johan Botha must be the best...

... Decided to take a closer look at some of the bowlers and see what the stats say.

Figure in brackets is number of games - chucked some other names in as well for comparison. Check out Vettori!

Johan Botha - 7 wickets at an average of 25.14 and economy of 5.86 (9)

Daniel Vettori - 21 wickets at an average of 14.28 and economy of 5.35 (14)

Nathan Bracken - 19 wickets at an average of 18.94 and economy of 6.68 (16)

Sohail Tanvir - 9 wickets at an average of 28.33 and economy of 7.08 (10)

Umar Gul - 20 wickets at an average of 12.20 and economy of 5.11 (13)

Shahid Afridi - 19 wickets an an average of 18.47 and economy of 6.10 (15)

hhhhmmmm any other big names that we should add to this list?

The pinch-hitter does not work

T20 cricket is all the rage at the moment and there is a lot of talk again about the role of a pinch-hitter in the game.

My position - THE PINCH HITTER DOES NOT WORK - irrespective of what version of the game you play.

On the odd occasion a pinch hitter comes off its more a case of luck than a well planned strategy. The best 1 day innings (Think Herschelle Gibbs chasing down 400+ at the Wanderers against the Aussies) are because a real batter gets his eye and uses his natural talent to flay bowlers left right and centre.

But a pinch hitter that comes in and scores 12 off 12 balls - has NOT done anything good for the side. Instead if a Michael Clarke or Andrew Symonds had come in and used those 12 balls to get his eye in before blasting 100 off 80 balls.

Let your batters do the job they're supposed to do and leave the bowlers fresh to do what they are supposed to be doing.