T20 Day 2

So Holland came through for me and beat the Poms at Lords! Hahahahhaha what a great start to the T20 World Cup - nothing better than watching the English side self destruct and keep letting the underdogs back into the side.

Lots of cricket on today and here are the bets I have placed. Teams haven't been confirmed so check the betting

New Zealand vs Scotland

• Coetzer - Top Scottish batter
  
• Ross Taylor or Jacob Oram to top the New Zealand batting - although Oram would assume that the Scots take a few wickets
  

Australia vs West Indies

• West Indies to win the game
• Dwayne Bravo - West Indies top batter
• David Hussey - Top Aussie batter

India vs. Bangladesh

• Ashraful - Top Bangladesh batter
  
• Top indian batter I spread three bets across Sehwag, Pathan and Jadeja (if he plays)
  

Happy punting

Bit of a lottery but we will take it

.... 1-0 to the good guys... but geez I'm convinced we still don't really get this T20 format of the game.

Let's be honest, if Albie Morkel hadn't blasted us in the middle of the innings there (AGAIN) we'd have been beaten convincingly after a pretty decent bowling performance.

I thought David Hussey played amazingly well for the Aussies and I'm kicking myself - I could have gotten GREAT odds putting money on him to be the top batter and I had been tempted to do it. Backed him a coupla times in Oz and missed out but I had a good feeling about him yesterday.

Oh well!

Thought the value of spin / bowlers who can take the pace off the ball was well displayed here tonight on a pitch that normally provides fast and bouncy conditions. Robin Peterson, Johan Botha and David Hussey all got to grips (scuse the pun) with how to bowl and their figures proved it.

Wayne Parnell - how well did he bowl?! Did anyone check the speeds he was bowling - definately gathering some confidence and I hope he gets given an extended run in the ODI format of the game - like Mitchell Johnson has proven - the value of a quality left-arm seamer in your side cannot be doubted.

Johan Botha - Another solid performance from the SA T20 captain. This is another under-rated SA cricketer and HE seems to have worked out how to play this type of cricket - he's just got to get his batters to understand how to think their way through the game!

Robin Peterson - I'm not a big Robin Peterson fan but last night he put in a good performance. He bowled accurately, fielded well and in general made a good contribution. It is going to be interesting to see how his role is defined in the the team.

2nd T20 game

From the Cricket Strategist blog It was an odd performance by South Africa in the 1st of the T20s.

Admittledly they got blown out the water by shock batter Warner but I thought they made a couple of mistakes that they didn't have to make and its going to be interesting to see how they approach the second T20 game.

1. I still maintain that neither Ntini nor Steyn should be bowling (Due to fatigue / stress / strain) and both Tsotsobe and Parnell should have been bowled in the series against Kenya and Bangladesh - but no point crying over spilt milk.

2. Van Jaarsveld has to go to the top of the order. This is his game and he must shoulder some of the bloody batting risk.

3. While I thought JP Duminy was brilliant, I also felt that he chucked his wicket away just when he had turned the game... That shot he went out to was completely unnecessary. (Having said that, the 6 he belted off Tait with the paddle over the keepers head was phenomenal.)

Just from an Aussie perspective - I know our mates over at The Baggy Green have been calling for Nathan Bracken to be in the test squad and I think he justified this call yesterday. Shaun Tait also impressed me with some of his bowling.

Sports Trader
The following is the odds from the Sports Trader blog relating to the 2nd T20 at the Gabba tomorrow.

Well 1-0 Aussie at the moment and despite being firmly in the SA corner from a fans perspective, we're expecting them to go down again against the Aussies who looked like a very flexible ODI outfit on Sunday.

Here is some of the betting from World Sports Betting relating to the second

T20 game:

Best Batter - Australia
Warner - 33/10
Ponting - 7/2
Marsh - 7/2
D Hussey - 11/2
M Hussey - 7/1
White - 8/1

Best Batter - SA
Gibbs - 7/2
De villiers - 4/1
Duminy - 4/1
Amla - 4/1
Kallis - 4/1
McKenzie - 5/1
Van Jaarsveld - 9/1

Van Jaarsveld looks like a no brainer assuming he plays - which would seem likely given the bump to Devilliers

Man of the match odds
Warner - 7/1
Ponting - 8/1
Marsh - 9/1
Kallis - 10/1
Gibbs - 10/1
Bracken - 11/1
D Hussey - 12/1

Thought David Hussey at 12/1 could be a useful bet given his allrounder status.