England vs West Indies 4th Test

The series may well be dead and buried but Thursday’s Test at the Oval should still have some life to it judging on the events at Old Trafford.

Brian Lara’s team were much more competitive there and could be in with a shout now that they are playing more like a West Indies side, and up against an England side who could be excused for taking their foot off the gas. What’s more, England will be without Graham Thorpe with a fractured right little finger, and they are undoubtedly a weaker side without him.

However, England’s price has drifted out to 5/6 over the last couple of days from an opening 4/6 and that is enough to warrant a bet on the home side. Thorpe’s replacement Ian Bell has been in prolific form for his county Warwickshire, and with Thorpe probably nearing the end of his career this is a great opportunity for Bell to show his class. On the best batting wicket in the country he should be able to score a few runs, along with Robert Key who looks good value at 5/1 in our ‘Top Batsman’ market. The Kent player was instrumental in England’s 3rd Test victory with a superb 93 not out on Monday, and his Test match experience just gives him the
edge over Bell in that market.

Carling Cup 1st round - Rochdale v Wolves

Only a missed penalty prevented Wolves from turning match superiority into a win against Leeds last weekend, but they should have no trouble finding the net against a side two divisions lower. Rochdale scored from the spot, and produced a goal-of-the-season candidate, in a 2-0 win over Southend on Saturday, but this is different class. Two seasons back Dale reached the Fifth Round of the FA Cup, only to be dumped out by Wolves at Molineux.

The score that day was 3-1 to the Midland’s side, and a similar scoreline looms
on Monday

Soccer Premiership – Arsenal v Wolves

This is the two teams fifth meeting this year and the score currently stands at two wins apiece, but that doesn’t tell the whole story, as Boro’s wins were achieved in the Carling Cup when Arsenal were resting players. In both league games Arsenal scored four, as they did in the Fourth Round FA Cup tie in between the Carling Cup games. In fact the goal tally over the last seven meetings stands at 17-2 in the Gunners favour, and that trend is expected to continue here, although the Teesiders are likely to pose more of a threat than Everton last weekend. Back Arsenal to take all three points, and in the process equal Forest’s run of 42 games unbeaten. A scoreline of 3-1 looks tempting at 9/1, with an Arsenal Half Time/Full Time bet at 5/6 more attractive than a bet on the 90 minutes result at 4/11.

PGA Tour Golf

This week’s event, played on the par-70 South course at Firestone, will
feel like a stroll in the park after Whistling Straits last week. Tiger
Woods heads a competitive field, and will go off favourite on the back
of his outstanding record here (3rd, 5th, 1st, 1st, 1st, 4th), but he was
playing less badly last year and still got beat by six shots. It is
surely only a question of time before he snaps out of his current dearth of
victories, but the man who looked most likely to come on for last
week’s run is Phil Mickelson. Winner of the 1996 World Series of Golf at
Firestone, Lefty has finished solo second, tied for fourth, tied for
eighth, tied for ninth and tied for 23rd in his five NEC Invitational
starts since. After taking a month off before the USPGA he will be a
lot sharper this week.

Next month’s Ryder Cup holds the key to the final two picks this week.
Stewart Cink will be on a massive high after getting the call-up from
Captain Hal Sutton this week, and he is highly likely to raise his game
as a result of the pressure being lifted. His form at this venue is not
bad either – two results within the top-13 places – while his 17th place
last week brought his current tournament run of top-20’s to six, three of
which were top-6 finishes. He may not be the most accurate of drivers but
lapses off the tee are not overly punished here, a remark that also applies to
this week’s final pick, Fredrik Jacobson. The Swede needs a good showing
this week, or in next week’s BMW International Open, to climb the one
place on the world points list to earn an automatic spot in the European
Ryder Cup team. Last week’s performance from Chris DiMarco showed how this
can be a powerful motivational tool for any player, and this could be just the
incentive that Jacobson needs. What’s more his putting (7th in putts
per round stats) will be a major asset this week on greens that have a
reputation for being super slick.

Nigel Ridgway's tips

More tips from our friend Nigel coming soon. He is an experienced punter and betting shop owner of many years, who believes that “The key to successful gambling is getting value for money.”

Nigel was once forced, by British bookmakers, to stop writing a tipping column in a UK newspaper, because he was costing them a fortune. The topic, you bet, will be mainly British-centric, but it seems there are some people around interested in making money betting on Brit sports.