Back with a bang

Daily Result: £734.69

Hmmm. Maybe I should take a break more often! Can't argue with today's result. A big contribution to the wedding funds. Actually won £834.69 on the Sri Lanka v New Zealand cricket but the Mark Williams snooker bet I mentioned the other day lost costing me £100. I remember now why I don't normally tip / pass them on!

Even after just a couple of days off I felt more in the mood when I sat down to do the cricket. Will do tomorrow's semi final too and then probably take another two days off before the final. See how I feel after that.

Despite feeling good I actually had a terrible start in the cricket. Double clicked a sizeable bet on the toss news and ended up in a bit of a nasty position. Got out of it and took a very quick profit as soon as possible in the Sri Lanka innings and thankfully so - as they lost a wicket soon after. So a little lucky to start with but from there on I just seemed to hit the zone for large parts of the game and ended up £450 green either side at the break - an unusually large position for me after 50 overs.

It was an enjoyable innings to watch too. Steady paced with good acceleration at the end and included a superb 115 not out from captain Jayawardene, a fast and useful 73 from Tharanga and a cameo 30 from 27 balls by Dilshan. What made the final total of 289 for 5 even more impressive was the Sri Lankans had fallen prey to some shocking umpiring decisions including two LBWs where the ball hadn't even hit the pads!

So New Zealand needed 290 to win from 50 overs at a required run rate of 5.8. Well, New Zealand can chase. And anyone who underestimates their ability to do so will learn a costly lesson. But as I said on the Betfair forum I fancied Sri Lanka to win. Though I did expect the Black Caps to have a better crack at the total.

They were up against a lot though. Styris had a hand injury. McMillan had been off the pitch for most the Sri Lankan innings and wouldn't be able to bat until number 7. Fleming has been Vaas's bunny recently and has been out 7 times in 99 balls to him! On top of that the 290 needed would have been the largest run chase in the tournament by a country mile. And the overhead conditions had clouded over somewhat from the Sri Lankan innings. Oh, and New Zealand have lost 4 world cup semi finals previously. So the prospects weren't good!

That said I wasn't going to underestimate the Kiwi's and was aware they would probably go after a quick start so left it a few overs before getting involved. A wicket fell, Malinga was bowling an unplayable spell, the RRR was on the rise and I got with Sri Lanka.

To be fair after losing a second earlyish wicket New Zealand gave the short odds Lankan batters a bit of a scare by the time they were 105/2 and the Lankan price had flown out to 1.5x. Especially as Fernando had gone for 45 of those in just 5 overs. But then came the spinners. And a collapse of English proportions. The Kiwis went from 105/2 to 149/9 and the Lankan price collapsed accordingly. Between them Murali, Jayasuriya and Dilshan - a replacement for Fernando - took 8 wickets in less than 22 overs. And those stats include a 59 run 10 over last wicket partnership. Carnage. And Sri Lanka rightfully emerged from it to claim their place in the final on Saturday.

Unfortunately the news wasn't so good from the snooker. My bet in the outright market, Mark Williams, lost his 1st round match! Yes, yes, he's crap these days I hear you say. What were you doing? Well, I had a tip from someone I consider a good snooker judge and briefly explained the reasons elsewhere on the blog (see comments) but it seems Williams had other ideas. :-( I actually put the match on in the background while I was working. He missed his first pot by a good half a foot and needed two flukes to win the first frame. I wasn't hopeful! But somehow he managed to get to a 4-0 lead at which point I turned off, thought he'd probably win the match and I'd assess my position later on. Was a bit surprised to later see it was 5-4 Williams and just smiled when I saw he'd lost 10-9! Ah well.