County Cricket / Ed Hawkins / 17 March 2008 / 1 Comments

The Hawkeye View - Ed Hawkins takes an early look at the betting for the County Championship and tells us why Lancashire and Hampshire are far from being decent bets

IN a few weeks' time, the county championship season will commence. Although don't be surprised if it starts without you noticing. For most, the premier domestic competition is only good for highlighting how antiquated and backward the England game has become. So they are not keen to herald its beginning.

The sound of leather on willow echoing around empty grounds and spectators who are retired, unemployed or unemployable swap befuddled over a mix of the unpronounceable Kolpak signing and whether the old codger in the next deckchair is either sleeping or dead.

Loved it is not. It is not even that popular among bettors, with the one-day competitions, including the hip Twenty20, more popular. The championship is more hip replacement by comparison.

Other competitions may pop champagne bottles. The four-day stamina test twists the top of a thermos flask. And that is why punters should learn to like it.

When something is not so popular, that means usually there is value to be exploited and for all the Tests, one-day internationals and Twenty20 action forthcoming in this English summer, the championship will provide some of the more outstanding value bets.

That is if you do your research. If you work hard on finding out team news for example (www.sportinglife.com usually have some excellent info a day before a match starts) then you can take advantage.

Likewise, spend a few hours on the domestic section of www.cricinfo.com to work out whether home sides have a greater advantage as they do in other sports, like football. To save you the time on that one, since 2000 the hosts have generally won nearly 20 per cent more games.

With the championship split into two division of eight, most focus centres on the top-flight.
And although the prices available on Betfair are early ones, it is clear that Lancashire and Hampshire are too short. Before you even dust off that tatty old sunhat and sharpen your pencil to fill in the scorebook, come to terms with the fact that both are unbackable at [5.0] and [6.6] respectively.

Lancashire, third and second in the last two years, have the players to be the best side in the country. But unfortunately for their long-suffering supporters, they don't have the weather.
The miserable Manchester climate cost them their first title since 1950 in 2006. Rain washed out three probable home victories in the first two months and a further three before the end of the campaign.

Unless you have a sophisticated weather system in your back garden telling you the forecast for the next six months, Lancashire are one to forget, even if last summer was one of the best up north in recent memory for them.

As for Hampshire, they are likely to be severely disrupted by the absence of Shane Warne, their skipper whose inspirational qualities are on the wane at the Rose Bowl. Well-fancied last term, they finished fifth and a decline looks to have set in.

Warne does not look like being around for long enough spells to reverse it. He could miss half the summer because of the IPL, and believe it or not, poker commitments.

The Indian Twenty20 leagues are playing havoc with county overseas signings. And until the situation is resolved it is best to keep one's powder dry considering the importance of the imports.

Nottinghamshire are unsure when David Hussey will be joining them for example while Shane Bond (Hampshire), Mushtaq Ahmed (Sussex), Rana Naved-ul-Hasan (Yorkshire) and Jason Gillespie (Glamorgan) may not be allowed to play at all after signing for the ICL.

Thank goodness for Northamptonshire in the bottom rung, therefore. They have signed only Kolpak players - cue some of those bemused looks - and the fact that Nicky Boje, Lance Klusener and Andrew Hall will be with them from pre-season to finish makes them eye-catching at around [11].

Who is your fancy for glory domestically this summer?

Note: Last summer we saw one of the best domestic seasons for many a year. So far this year it has been more of the same. However in 2009 the cricket world will be dominated by The Ashes. Betfair are putting together a website that'll allow debate on the biggest series in the game and to join in check out fanvfan

Tags: County Championship betting, Lance Klusener, Old Trafford weather, Shane Warne