ODI and test match trading results

Result since last update: £1911.25

Another great couple of days on the trading front. Think it's fair to say I'm on a bit of a roll and this back to basics approach I mentioned last time is paying dividends. Traded two events since the last update. The 5th ODI between India and Australia and the the conclusion of the 2nd test between Pakistan and South Africa.

To be fair I didn't really trade the ODI at all. I mentioned I was a bit of a sleep enthusiast at the the end of my last blog entry and that the 4.30am start was looking a little daunting. Well, turns out it was! The alarm simply interrupted my sleep and I got up in time for the start of day 4 of the second test instead.

Bit of a mistake. India were batting. Well, in the broadest sense of the word. By the time I tuned in there were 76 for 5, Australia were 1.12, some of the crowd were already leaving and what was left price wise was little more than a lump on job. With Tendulkar still at the crease in his 400th ODI I decided to wait in hope that there would be a bit of a salvage job and I could get on the Aussies at a better price. Unfortunately as I was catching up with the 2nd test wickets continued to fall and eventually my book consisted of a nothing more than a series of short-priced lumps on the Aussies.

India did salvage the situation slightly with their record 10th wicket partnership against Australia of 41. But even that left them on a derisory 148 - with Gilchrist taking a world record equalling 6 catches behind the stumps. To put the score in context the previous lowest ODI score from a team batting first at the ground was 244! Despite some radical thinking from Dhoni - he opened the bowling attack with Harbhajan - the result was never really in doubt and the Aussies cruised to a 9 wicket victory with more than 24 overs to spare. Different class really. And enabled me to a win around £570.

Picked up a bigger win on the test match. A little more than £1.3k. Pleased with that, especially as the match ended in a draw and my initial positions had all been lays of the draw. I mentioned at the end of day 3 that I had reduced my liabilities on the draw and by the end of Day 4 it was my biggest green in a small to moderate all green book. Was a bit surprised how well the pitch held up and got on the draw a little late on the final day but was still satisfied with the result.

The match was notable for Jacques Kallis scoring another century making it 3 in 4 innings in the two match series. In fact he became only the 2nd player ever to make 3 centuries in 2 consecutive tests. In doing so he helped South Africa to their first series win against a major sub continent side, in the sub continent, in seven years.

More notable though was the retirement of former captain and Pakistani cricketing legend Inzamam-Ul-Haq. Inzi needed just 6 runs in his final test innings to beat Javed Miandad's record for the most number of Test runs scored by a Pakistani player. He got just 3. Out trying to reach the landmark in style skipping down the pitch in an effort to despatch a ball from South African spinner Paul Harris to the boundary. Boucher made a simple stumping and a cleary disappoinited Inzi trudged off the field stopping briefly to acknowledge the crowd's adulation. There were tears from the Pakistan team after the match as Inzi gave his farewell speech, had a stand at the ground named after him reflected on his career. Following Glenn McGrath and Brian Lara a few months back it seems to be the year of the big name retirements.

Anyway, it's been a totally hectic 30 days or so since my return from honeymoon on the cricket trading front. There's far fewer games now until November. During this time I'm planning to make some changes to the blog and there should be a lot more articles discussing specific trading issues. More about that next week.