England Cricket / Editor / 01 October 2007 /

England go into the third one-day international with Sri Lanka on October 7 buoyed by their first 50-over win in the country since 1982.

Paul Collingwood's men rewarded punters who bet on them to square the series, taking advantage of winning the toss to land the odds in Dambulla.

Punters should note that sides batting first have won three of the last four ODIs at this venue, as batting under lights is difficult and betting should reflect that.

England's top order was blown away on Thursday and Owais Shah is becoming an increasingly safe bet to bail out the side and his 82 rewarded punters who like betting on the 28-year-old to be top-scorer.

Graeme Swan would have been long odds to even be in the side before the series but he made 34 priceless runs down the order and took two wickets with his off spin.

Betting on Kevin Pietersen has reaped rewards in the past but the odds of him being top run-scorer in the series have lengthened as he is struggling for form at present, and betting on Alistair Cook also reflects his lack of runs.

The experiment of Phil Mustard opening with Cook has not worked as yet but the Durham man is an odds-on bet to have a lengthy one-day career as he has bags of potential.

Betting on the Sri Lankans at Dambulla has proved fruitful as they have won 13 of the 22 matches played and, with the likes of Kumar Sangakkara in the side, they are always a good bet.

Mahela Jayawardene is an astute captain and superb batsman and is often a good bet to lead the Sri Lankans to victory.

In 12 day-nighters at Dambulla the team batting first has won seven times and therefore teams batting second do have a chance of victory at decent odds chasing under the lights.

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