County Cricket Betting: Spin signings make the difference

County Cricket / Ed Hawkins / 09 April 2010 / 1

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Imran Tahir is a fantastic signing for Warwickshire

"The signings which should capture the attention of bettors are the ones involving an international-class twirler"

The County Championship season has started if you didn't notice. But just because the IPL has more glitz and glamour, don't rule it out as a betting medium. Ed Hawkins explains why

If a tree falls in a forest and no-one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Ditto for the start of the County Championship season. With the Indian Premier League dominating the majority of punters' thoughts, and a World Twenty20 coming up in a couple of weeks taking up the rest, the English game has never been more marginalised.

The domestic season began on Friday, believe it or not. It is the earliest start to a county season, with most counties due to have played half of their four-day fixtures by May. Correspondence about the county scene has centred around spreading doom and gloom. The traditionalists, paradoxically, love to moan about how the competition has been ruined and how no-one bothers to watch it.

It's not as bad as all that. Certainly not from a betting point of view. The County Championship still offers cricket bettors some of the best value anywhere in the world. Better even (whisper it) than an IPL contest or Test series. One of the reasons for the perennial punting pleasure is the county carousel, with players jumping on or off at apparent will with the result being a team, which was previously labelled as no-hopers, suddenly transformed into potential silverware winners.

In Division One Durham, pennant winners for the last two seasons, have decided to attempt to win a third successive title (Yorkshire were the last county to manage such a feat through 1966-68) without an overseas player. That could be considered either brave or foolish. Either way, they sure don't look much value at sub [3.00].

The signings which should capture the attention of bettors are the ones involving an international-class twirler, a type of player who has so often made the difference between delight and indifference; Saqlain Mushtaq for Surrey in 1999, 2000 and 2002, Mushtaq Ahmed for Sussex in 2003, 2006 and 2007, Graeme Swann for Nottinghamshire in 2005.

Hampshire, Warwickshire and Kent have spotted the trend and have made captures accordingly. Ajantha Mendis, the Sri Lankan bamboozler, could win the title on his own, providing he turns up (no-one seems exactly sure when he is supposed to arrive), Imran Tahir, who took 52 wickets in 12 games for Hampshire last season, has joined the Bears while Kent will pair England's James Tredwell and Malinga Bandara, who has county experience with Gloucestershire.

Given the vagaries of Mendis' contract, and the suspicion that Hampshire are more interested in Twenty20, a wager on Warwickshire or Kent could well be profitable at around the [12.00] to [13.00] mark respectively. Certainly both sides can boast enough strength in batting to notch the all-important bonus points.

In Division Two, Surrey appeared to take Britain's unemployment boom to heart and tried to wrestle the country from the grip of recession on its own. Chris Adams, the coach, captured six players making one of them, Rory Hamilton-Brown, captain. At the age of 22, Hamilton-Brown could be an example of Surrey trying to curry favour from government youth grants.

Adams' passion for the 'transfer' market is all very well and good but on closer inspection, he may have got carried away. Steven Davies, the Worcestershire keeper, is his best work but bringing tweaker Gareth Batty with him and Chris Tremlett, the injury-prone Hampshire paceman, are his worst. Piyush Chawla, India spinner, has not been allowed to travel by his board. They are not be backed at around the [3.50] mark.

Instead Sussex, who have been far shrewder, are the pick. Monty Panesar's capture could be a masterstroke and he should enjoy restoring confidence on a Hove surface which takes turn in the later stages of the season. As important as the arrival of Panesar is the retention of the evergreen Murray Goodwin.

Elsewhere, keep an eye on Matthew Hoggard, new skipper at Leicestershire. Anyone who has read his bonkers autobiography will recognise that Hoggard could be the greatest inspirational captain the game has ever seen. Or not. Gloucestershire, too, have credentials. The signing of Jon Batty, jettisoned by Adams, could be a masterstroke and they could gain a surprise promotion slot.

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Chris | 09 April 2010

Hiya Ed
Hope you are well, wondered what happened to you
Nice to see you writing on here.
You should have given Derbyshire a mention though mate :)