Monte's Multiple / Jaymes Monte / 07 December 2009 /

Jaymes Monte picks three bets which he believes could provide the value this week....

Bet 1: Snooker - UK Championships

The UK Championships is one of my favourite tournaments; unlike many the others the length of matches is always just right; not as lengthy as the World Championships where matches can often seem to go on a bit too long split over three sessions, and they are just long enough to ensure that the best player on the day comes out on top.

It is also comes at a time when we far enough into the season to have some form to analyse.

Two players to stay firmly on the right side of this season are Neil Robertson and John Higgins, and they face each other in the second round this week. They produced one of the all time classics in the semi-final of this year's Grand Prix - a game which Higgins eventually edged 6-5 in a thrilling final frame.

That frame was typical of how closely these players are matched and for that reason I believe we should be taking the bigger odds of [2.4] available on the Aussie.

Selection: Back Robertson to beat Higgins @ [2.4]

Bet 2: Football - The Championship

Billy Davies looks to have found the magic formula as Nottingham Forest fans are beginning to dream of a return to the top flight. Of course, we are only in December and there is still a lot of football to be played but things are looking considerably rosier for Forest than they have done for a long time.

A Robert Earnshaw hat-trick helped them leapfrog Leicester City into third place in the league table at the weekend. That 5-1 victory means they have now scored nine goals in their last two games and are unbeaten in their last 11.

Their opponents this midweek are Sheffield United who are having a mini renaissance of their own having won their last three games to climb to tenth in the table. The odds suggest that the Blades are the most likely to win this game priced at around the [2.4] mark but for me that is a little disrespectful to Forest's recent surge up the table. And purely from a value driven perspective I am looking to take them on here.

Selection: Lay Sheffield United to beat Nottm Forest @ [2.4]

Bet 3: Cricket - India v Sri Lanka, 1st T20

India stormed to the top of the Test match rankings with a thumping victory over Sri Lanka last week, powered by a hugely impressive 293 from Virender Sehwag. Now attentions turn to a two match Twenty20 series between the two sides.

The key here is to ask how much can be read into the Test match results and applied to the limited overs games. For me the answer is quite simply very little. Granted, India will be buoyed by their new found test status and carry that momentum into this match but that cannot atone for the deficiencies that were all too apparent in the one day series against Australia last month.

Sri Lanka are one of the most well rounded Twenty20 sides in the world, they have power hitters at the top of their batting line-up and a bowling attack which can stifle any side in the world. Tillakaratne Dilshan showed in the test series that he remains in top form and the likes of Angelo Matthews and Nuwan Kulasekara adda different dimension to the side with both bat and ball.

Like any Twenty20 match this could go either way dependant on one individual performance, but at the odds on offer Sri Lanka have to be the bet here.

Selection: Back Sri Lanka to beat India @ [2.3] (1st T20)

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