21st Feb 2011 | Cricket
Cricket World Cup Betting: Early Games Go To Form
Three matches in and no hint of a shock. With all the betting movement confined to the top batsman market.
The favourites all won their opening matches with ease, leaving the Cricket World Cup outright betting unchanged.
The fireworks started on Friday night in the opening game between Bangladesh and India. The game was effectively over after India’s mammoth score of 370-4, with Virendar Sehwag falling in the 48th over for 175. He was ably assistant by world cup debutant Virat Kohli who scored 100 not out.
Sri Lanka couldn’t quite match India’s efforts on Saturday but 332 for 7 was comfortably enough to beat Canada. Mahela Jayawardene scoring 100 and Kumar Sangakkara 92 to move them closer to the Sehwag in the race for the Golden Bat.
New Zealand proved how the toss can affect the overall batsman market. Kenya won it and decided to bat, only to be bowled out for 69, the fifth-lowest score in tournament history. This gave the New Zealand batsmen no opportunity to score significant runs. They duly reached their target in just eight overs.
Clear by 75 runs, Sehwag is now favourite in the top batsman betting at 7/2 with Skybet (from 16/1). With so many batsman still to play Sangakkara and Kohli are next in the betting at 10/1 and 12/1.
Odds correct at time of publishing: 09:05 21st Feb, 2011 but subject to change
