Betfair Official Blog

Monte's Multiple: Snooker, football and cricket

25 November 2008

1. Selection: Lay Stephen Hendry (to beat Ding Junhui) @ 3.0
2. Selection: Lay W Bremen (to beat Anorthosis) @2.17
3. Back England (to beat India) @ [2.44]

Winner, winner, chi..... Another close call last week with 2 of the 3 selections coming in. Argentina gave a battling performance to beat Scotland by a solitary goal then bad light put pay to any remote chance England had of beating India in the 3rd ODI.

We went into Thursday night's Premier League snooker match with all our money riding on John Higgins to beat Joe Perry. Alas, Higgins didn't get going until it was too late. This week we combine Snooker, Football and Cricket again.

Bet 1: Premier League Snooker

As the group stages draw to a close, three of the four semi-final spots have already been determined. Mark Selby, Joe Perry and Ronnie O'Sulivan are through and the final place will go to either Stephen Hendry or Ding Junhui.

Hendry showed some patchy form last week, making breaks of 108 and 72 on his way to drawing 3-3 with Ronnie O'Sullivan and putting himself in a position where a draw against Ding will see him progress to the semi-finals. He went in to his match against O'Sullivan on the back of a semi-final appearance in Bahrain where he looked to be back to his best at times and was fancied by many to go on and win the tournament.

Ding has also been resurgent of late, winning his last two matches 4-2 and making an opening frame break of 139 in his last match against Steve Davis two weeks ago. When he is in form he can beat anyone in the world.

But Hendry is a seasoned pro and may have enough experience to get the draw he needs to progress. However, Ding will come out flying and, if he keeps his focus, he has more than enough to beat Hendry.

Selection: Lay Stephen Hendry (to beat Ding Junhui) at [3.0].

Bet 2: Champions League Football

The group stages enter the business end this week in round five of six with only three teams already guaranteed their place in the knock-out stages.

The surprise package of the tournament thus far have undoubtedly been Anorthosis Famagusta who were unlucky to concede a late equaliser against Inter Milan last week, eventually drawing the game 3-3 after coming from behind twice. They sit second in Group B on 5 points, having taken a point away to Werder Bremen and won their grudge match at home against Panathinaikos.

On Wednesday Werder Bremen visit the Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium where Anorthosis will look to maintain their unbeaten home record. Werder have struggled on their travels so far this season, winning just one away game in the Bundesliga and recording two draws on their travels in Europe. A win for the hosts would see the German side eliminated from the tournament and, depending on the result in the other group game, could see Anorthosis qualify for the knockout stages.

The betting for this match presents one of those rare situations where looking at the stats makes you shocked at the prices. Werder Bremen go in to this game as strong favourites at around [2.2] despite their poor away record and Anorthosis' strong home form. It appears that people are still reluctant to accept Anorthosis as a respectable outfit in European football, and until they do we should take advantage of this. Erring on the side of caution, means we can lay W Bremen and keep the draw on our side.

Selection: Lay W Bremen (to beat Anorthosis) @2.17

Bet 3: Cricket - India v England

With the ODI series now over as a contest, Indian captain Mahendra Singh Doni has vowed to make changes and field the unused players while Kevin Pietersen and his team will be doing whatever they can to restore some much needed pride.

The teams go to Cuttack for the 5th ODI, a ground where England have won two of the three match-ups between the teams there. The last meeting coming in 2002 in a game which England won and levelled the series 1-1. Paul Collingwood hit an unbeaten 71 from 78 balls that day and with his poor form of late he will see this as an opportunity to repeat that performance and demonstrate his worth to the team.

There were a couple of positives for England to take form the fourth ODI, with Owais Shah knocking 72 from 48 balls and Andrew Flintoff with 41 from 30. At one stage it looked as though these two might make up for Bell and Bopara's slow start and run India close, putting on 82 for the fourth wicket before the inevitable collapse.

Pietersen's comments leading up to this next match up suggest that he is still very keen to win the remaining matches and I expect him to make few changes, if any to the team. They will find themselves up against a younger, less experienced India side and England should get their first win of the series on the board. The [2.44] on offer looks a generous price.

Selection: Back England at [2.44].

Lay Stephen Hendry @3.0
Lay W Bremen @2.17
Back England @2.44
£10 Treble @ 6.5