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Let’s be honest, nobody is going to get rich backing England to win their three-match one-day series in Bangladesh at a best 1-4 with betfred so we are going to have to examine alternative options to keep the wolves from the door this week. Backing Graeme Swann to take most wickets is certainly viable. Swann (11-4 with Victor Chandler) has given every indication he will thrive on the Bangladesh wickets and, following a tremendous Ashes series and another solid showing in South Africa, is showing no sign of letting his standards drop. He again shone in last week’s two T20 games against Pakistan in Dubai and in England’s warm-up match against a Bangladeshi Board XI and is a near-certainty to start all three one-day games and be given his full quota of overs with the rest of England’s attack having a fragile look about it at present. Stuart Broad, 11-4 with Stan James and Ladbrokes, is probably the only other of England’s bowlers likely to feature in every match but the youngster can still blow a little hot and cold and looks a risky proposition at that price to me. James Tredwell, England’s second spinner, can be backed at a general 6-1 while Yorkshire team-mates Tim Bresnan and Ajmal Shahzad are a best 11-2 (bet365 and extrabet) and 25-1 (skybet) respectively to take most Bangladesh wickets. You can almost certainly guarantee yourself a profit by scouring the correct score markets as well. Let’s not forget, England have played and beaten Bangladesh eight times in the 50-over format of the game and most of those victories were by wide margins. This may be a bit of an experimental squad being led by Alastair Cook but it’s still one that contains proven one-day and Test performers in the shape of Swann, Broad, Cook, Collingwood, Pietersen and Prior and they will have no excuses if failing. Given that, Victor Chandler’s 5-4 for a 3-0 England whitewash shouldn’t be missed, though you can still employ a safety net in the shape of totesport’s 11-5 for a 2-1 scoreline should the England selectors decide to give some fringe players an outing or a touch of complacency creeps in. Either result would still turn you a profit. Kevin Pietersen, incidentally, heads the top England batsmen market at a general 3-1 but you can get 5-1 with skybet against him being upstaged by England’s new ‘South African’ scoring sensation Craig Kieswetter. 

What is patently obvious, looking at the stats of this week’s Totesport Trophy at Newbury, is that anything trained by either Nicky Henderson or Gary Moore deserves the utmost respect. Henderson saddles four in this year’s renewal of the UK’s most valuable handicap hurdle with stable jockey Barry Geraghty partnering Spirit River, an impressive winner on his latest outing at Cheltenham in December. Spirit River (a general 7-1) has only had five career starts to date so is probably open to more improvement than most and it’s easy to see why he currently heads the market. Stablemate Fairyland (22-1 with sportingbet) is also an interesting runner, however, in that she’s a recent C&D winner (beat Frontier Dancer here last time) and stays further than this 2m, a valuable asset to possess in a race which is always run at a tremendous pace. But I think the Moore yard has tremendous prospects of landing a third consecutive Totesport Trophy via Harry Tricker. The six-year-old displayed a tremendous turn of foot to beat an in-form Zabeel Palace at Sandown in November before splitting Champion Hurdle prospect Khyber Kim and subsequent Grade 2 winner Medermit in the prestigious Greatwood Hurdle at Cheltenham shortly after. The handicapper saw fit to raise Harry Tricker (8-1 with Ladbrokes, Betfred and on betfair) 12lbs for that but regular jockey Andrew Glassonbury reduces that burden by 3lb and this appears to have been his target for a while. Given luck in running, Harry Tricker’s speed could be the deciding factor in this. Other contenders to watch out for include the novice Manyriverstocross (11-1 with Stan James and Coral) whom Alan King rates highly. He was a decent stayer on the flat and has carried that form into his hurdling career though he weakened quickly over a longer distance here last time, and Mamlook (a general 9-1 chance). The latter won a shade cosily at Ascot last month after travelling strongly throughout but he isn’t that big and there’s a chance he may get bullied in this big field over a trip that is probably on the sharp side for him nowadays and punters have been preferring stablemate Ronaldo Des Mottes (10-1 on Coral and sportingbet) so far. Takeroc (11-1 with Coral) has proved popular with punters since it was announced he was to be partnered by Ruby Walsh but he hasn’t shown enough over hurdles for me to warrant his price and neither has Tony McCoy’s mount Get Me Out Of Here, 8-1 with bet365 and Stan James, who may be unbeaten but has never met opposition of this calibre before. Songe (a general 40-1) has reportedly been rejuvenated by a soft palate operation and is well treated on his best form. If the ground turned really heavy he would be of real interest and certainly makes more appeal as an each-way investment than some at much shorter odds.

It’s probably fair to say that the Winter Olympics didn’t figure too highly when British bookmakers were compiling their list of potentially lucrative sporting events in 2010. Full marks to a few, however, who have priced up most of the major competitions and have made an effort to attract UK punters unfamiliar with many of the athletes by also quoting on things like which country will top the final medal table and what will be Britain’s eventual medal haul. One also gets the impression that a few of the odds compilers are rather fencing in the dark when it comes to some of the markets and there are opportunities for backers with a little knowledge to back up their judgement. For example, all talk pre-Games in the women’s alpine skiing events has centred around Lindsey Vonn. Undoubtedly, the American is a talent as a record of nine World Cup victories this winter suggests. But bookmakers seem to be almost brushing under the carpet the fact that Vonn has a shin injury which may yet mean her missing the Olympics. One would presume, therefore, that the blonde pin-up would be concentrating her efforts on winning her favourite event the downhill (for which she is a best 2-1 with Paddy Power) rather than risk all in the women’s combined which contains a slalom section. Now I can’t profess to having an insight into the best technique for the slalom but I’m pretty sure all that twisting and turning at high speed is the last thing you’d need if your shins were aching. Slalom, anyway, isn’t Vonn’s speciality and she shouldn’t be able to challenge Maria Riesch in the women’s combined. Riesch has finished on the podium in six of her last seven World Cup starts overall and has made the frame in four of seven slalom events, while her likely main rival hasn’t even managed to complete in three of this winter’s races in the more technical event. Riesch can still be backed at 2-1 with betfred to win the women’s combined, that price will almost certainly contract in the days ahead. The men’s downhill is the Games‘ blue riband event with skiers bidding to carve their name on a role of honour that includes superstars like Jean-Claude Killy, Franz Klammer and Fritz Strobl. Didier Cuche is the market leader (9-2 with coral) as he bids to become the first Swiss winner of the Olympic downhill since the great Pirmin Zurbriggen in Calgary in 1988. Home favourite Robbie Dixon has been showing up well in training on the Dave Murray piste in Vancouver as he bids to emulate Ed Podivinsky, the only previous Canadian to have won a medal in the downhill, and might be worth an each-way interest with coral at 25-1 as he is only half that price with many of the other leading layers. But this could be the competition in which young gun Carlo Janka finally comes of age. The 23-year-old Swiss showed what he is capable of when winning three World Cup races in as many days in Colorado at the start of the season and, with Cuche slightly hampered with a broken thumb and desperate to succeed in what is probably his last Games, may be able to cash in on the weight of expectation on his team mate’s shoulders. The 14-1 on offer from Victor Chandler and William Hill is simply too good to resist.

The frost may have deprived us of one major national hunt betting heat at Doncaster last week but the weather forecast for Town Moor looks more favourable for this weekend and I fancy the talented Tartak to go very close in the Blue Square Handicap Chase. Traditionally, this is a race in which the up-and-coming classy chasers excel. No horse carrying less than 11st has triumphed since 2003, while you would have to go back another year to find a winner aged nine or older. Take into account those stats and what, on paper, looks a very tricky puzzle to solve suddenly becomes less complex. I’ve a lot of respect for top weight Kalahari King (available at 10-1) but trainer Ferdy Murphy has already stated that his season-long target is the Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham in March, for which he is also a general 10-1 chance, so this run might be needed after a 287-day break. Not surprisingly, Paul Nicholls‘ two runners are well to the fore in the betting with stable jockey Ruby Walsh preferring the consistent Free World (5-1 in most places), who has been placed in his last six starts, ahead of last year’s winner I’msingingtheblues. The latter, available at a general 8-1, is 7lbs higher in the weights this time around. But if you’re looking for value (and who isn’t), how about Tartak? The seven-year-old can be backed at 12-1 with totesport, betfred, victor chandler, Paddy Power, Ladbrokes and William Hill, who seem to have priced up Tom George’s gelding on the basis that he’s never won over a trip this short before. His stamina, however, is what attracts him to me in this contest. He’s been pitched in against top-class opposition so far this term and was far from disgraced when 5th in the Arkle Chase last season over 2m when finishing ahead of I’msingingtheblues (4lbs worse off). The weights today also give him every chance of reversing that form with runner-up Kalahari King and, with a plethora of front-runners to ensure a strong gallop, Tartak should also have the race run to suit. You only have to go back to Aintree last year, when Tartak beat Deep Purple, Planet Of Sound and Calgary Bay, to realise that he shouldn’t be anywhere near his current price!

Manchester City have been shortened to general 4-1 second favourites for this season’s FA Cup after another weekend of relative upsets in England’s premier knockout competition. A City second-string cruised past Championship strugglers Scunthorpe in round four but whether the Premier League’s biggest spenders will still have Brazilian striker Robinho among their ranks when they take on Stoke City in the fifth round remains unclear, however. The former Real Madrid star has allegedly already told a Brazilian radio station that he’s joining Santos in his homeland on loan until the end of the season, despite denials by City manager Roberto Mancini. City’s next opponents Stoke were one of those teams responsible for a surprise in the fourth round, knocking out 10-times winners Arsenal. The Potters, who have never reached an FA Cup Final, are now 50-1 chances with Skybet, boylesports and Betfred, to lift the trophy in May. With Manchester United and Liverpool already having already fallen by the wayside and Spurs (8-1 with Blue Square, 888sport and Ladbrokes) being held to a draw by League One  Leeds (80-1 with Betfred and Stan James) Chelsea, the last survivors of the traditional ‘Big Four’ of the Premier League, are now understandably hot favourites to defend their crown, only Ladbrokes putting their head above the parapet by offering odds of 7-4 against the Blues who will face Championship side Cardiif City at Stamford Bridge in round five. Birmingham City may be worth an interest at bet365’s 16-1. Alex McLeish’s side are in teriffic form, underlined by their win at Everton in the last round, and they shouldn’t be unduly worried about a trip to Pride Park to meet an ordinary Derby County (200-1 with boylesports and William Hill) in the last 16. Aston Villa, with one Wembley appearance already booked, are general 7-1 chances having been paired with either Wolves or Crystal Palace while Fulham (general 14-1) will also fancy their chances of further progress with a home tie against either Wigan Athletic (available at 50-1) or League Two Notts County. That’s providing the latter survive another winding-up order this week. South coast near neighbours Southampton (150-1) and Portsmouth (40-1) clash at St Mary’s in perhaps the most attractive of the fifth-round ties.

The decision to leave Andrew Strauss out of England’s touring party to Bangladesh was surely one of cricket’s worst-kept secrets. Strauss is being rested following his team’s creditable draw in South Africa with selectors no doubt having one eye on next winter’s Ashes as well as the summer series against Pakistan. Alastair Cook, Strauss‘ regular partner at the top of the order and his current vice-captain, will take charge of the team for the Test series against Bangladesh as well as three one-day games, though Paul Collingwood will continue his role as T20 skipper for warm-up games against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates. Jimmy Anderson will also be rested in an attempt to sort out a nagging knee problem but otherwise the England Test line-up will have a largely familiar look about it, despite the addition of uncapped pace bowler Ajmal Shahzad of Yorkshire, Kent off-spinner James Tredwell and Hampshire batsman Michael Carberry. There’s also a recall for Durham’s Liam Plunkett but most of all the selectors will be viewing the Bangladesh tour as an opportunity for some of their under-performing batsmen to get some runs under their belt .Given that, Jonathan Trott (5-1 with Stan James and William Hill) and Kevin Pietersen (11-4 with Coral) will be popular choices to finish as England’s top runs scorer. Given the international rankings, this really is a Test series that England should win at a canter so William Hill’s 2-7 will almost certainly attract the big hitters, especially as they are as short as 1-7 to win the series in places. Coral’s 12-1 is the best price you’ll get on the home side causing an upset. Looking ahead, England have been pushed out to 3-1 (Betfred) to win in Australia next winter following their capitulation in Johannesburg at the weekend, with the Aussies into a general 4-7 to regain the Ashes.

Here we go again – will 2010 prove to be another year waiting for Andy Murray to finally come of age and land a Grand Slam, or will he prove all of his doubters wrong? I’m going to stick my neck out and say it will the latter because, put quite simply, Murray is simply too good not to make the breakthrough sooner rather than later.  The 22-year-old Scot shows no sign of being under pressure to end a frustrating run of near-misses in the tournaments that really that matter and his patience could well be rewarded in the Australian Open at Melbourne over the next couple of weeks. Hardcourt is undoubtedly Murray’s favoured sphere (five of his six tournament wins on the ATP Tour last year were on the surface) and he looked in pretty good nick in last week’s Hopman Cup, despite a surprise singles defeat in the final to Tommy Robredo. Some might argue that dropping to fifth in the world rankings has done no favours to Murray in Melbourne. Holder Rafael Nadal is now a possible quarter-final opponent with US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro seeded to await the winner of that one in the last four. However, there are big questions marks against those two at present. Del Potro, a general 6-1 chance, pulled out of last week’s AAMI Classic with a wrist injury and has been nursing a sore knee for the past few weeks, while reigning champion Nadal hasn’t won an ATP title for more than eight months. The Spaniard (4-1 with totesport), despite holding a 7-2 career verdict over Murray, clearly doesn’t get around the court as quickly as he did before last year’s serious injury and, though still having all the shots in his arsenal, may be vulnerable against Murray’s mobility. Of course, even if he reaches the final, the Scot (13-2 with betfred, Victor Chandler and Paddy Power) will still have to beat either Roger Federer or Novak Djokovic. Federer (3-1 with boylesports and extrabet) is bidding for an amazing 16th Grand Slam, having bounced back from defeat in an epic final against Nadal in Melbourne 12 months ago to win at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon. He also lost out to Djokovic here in 2008, however, and maybe this tournament comes a little too early in the season for him nowadays. Indeed, I believe Djokovic may be the one to emerge from the top half of the draw. He’s been in cracking shape on the ATP Tour over the last few months, winning in Beijing, Basel and Paris at the latter end of 2009, and betfair’s 8-1 is a cracking bet considering he’ll make the semi-finals at least on all known form. Backing the Serbian and the Scot at either end of the draw seems a sensible policy to me with doubts over their three main rivals.

A celebrity is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as ‘ a famous person’. An equally well known source of reference describes the word as meaning someone who is ‘ widely recognised and commanding a high degree of public and media attention’. None of which applies to the majority of contestants in the last-ever Celebrity Big Brother, which has lurched into life this week. The plug is being pulled on the reality TV house after 2010 and, looking at this year’s line-up, many would probably say it’s 12 months too late! I want a show of hands if you’ve ever heard of Basshunter, Sisqo or Heidi Fleiss. How about Alex Reid and Dane Bowers who are, apparently, love rivals for Jordan? Is any man honestly desperate enough to fight over the woman? Then we have Ekaterina Ivanova, whose tenuous claim to ‘fame’ is that she was once assaulted by a Rolling Stone. This, remember, is a show turned down by Gazza and Russell Grant, a man who normally never passes up an opportunity for self publicity. What was most entertaining about the opening introductions was the fact that not even the ‘celebrities’ appeared to know who their housemates were or what they were supposed to be famous for. Stephanie Beacham’s face, for example, might have been familiar to fans of Tenko or The Colbys 20 years ago but she’s hardly a household name nowadays, while I don’t know about you but the prospect of a month locked up with born again Christian Stephen Baldwin (less talented brother of Alec and William) would probably have me drowning myself in the house’s ornate bath tub before the first eviction vote. Thank heavens, therefore, for Vinnie Jones (and I never though I’d say that)! The Wimbledon-turned-Hollywood hard man at least has a recognised profile and he may be the only thing saving the show as a betting medium. Jones has been just about the only contestant attracting market support (a best 5-2 with Betfred) and would probably be even more popular if he started throwing his weight around the most desperate collection of wannabes and nobodies ever collected under one roof. Being an old fan of Dynasty I’ll probably have a bit of a saver on Stephanie Beacham at 10-1 (Stan James) who, at least, is showing signs of having a bit of character. But as for the rest, should they really be allowed back into society?

I can’t recall there ever being the slightest interest among layers previously in pricing up the Hopman Cup. The traditional curtain-raiser to the tennis year, staged at the Burswood Centre in Perth, Western Australia for the past 21 years, has always passed relatively unnoticed by bookmakers and punters alike. 2010, however, is different. Andy Murray’s decison to take in the singles/mixed doubles round-robin tournament  instead of his usual route via the Qatar Open in Doha as part of his preparation for the Australian Open has attracted a lot of media interest, enhanced by the fact that the Scot is being partnered by former Wimbledon junior champion Laura Robson, whom many believe is that most rare of creatures, a British girl with the potential to make it to the upper echelons of the women’s game. Ranked three in the world, Murray is by far and away the highest rated player in the event and would be expected to win all three of his group singles matches. But he’s never excelled at the doubles game, while Robson may struggle to compete, at this stage of her career, with the likes of Elena Dementieva and Sabine Lisicki in her singles matches. Taking into account both will have bigger fish to fry in the months ahead not even Skybet’s 11-2 makes much appeal for Great Britain to win the event. That honour could go to Russia, who team Dementieva with Igor Andreev. The latter has been ranked in the world’s top 40 for the past three years and won more matches than he’s lost on the ATP Tour while his partner is currently ranked fifth in the world and, just as importantly, has bags of experience on the doubles circuit. Russia  7-2 with Ladbrokes to win the tournament and 6-4 with Betfred and Ladbrokes to win Group B, should have the measure of Germany (a general 6-1 for overall success) and Great Britain in their section and are fancied to see off Group A fancies Spain (7-1 with Betfred to win outright) in the final.

Now I’ve heard two trains of thought regarding England’s World Cup draw. On the one hand, euphoria that Fabio Capello’s men somehow avoided dangerous wild cards like The Ivory Coast, France and Portugal in their first-round group, but in the opposite corner nervous fans who point out that England’s potential first match in the knockout stages of the tournament will be against either Australia, Germany, Ghana or Serbia. I suppose it depends if you’re a glass half-full or glass half-empty kind of guy as to what your viewpoint is on this but surely the World Cup finals are all about making progress one step at a time and, on that score, England just can’t complain about the hand they’ve been dealt. The Three Lions are now no bigger than 6-1 with Coral to win only their second World Cup and a best 4-11 (Skybet and Paddy Power) to win Group C ahead of the USA, Algeria and Slovenia. The Americans, England’s first opponents in Rustenberg on June 13th, are generally regarded as their most dangerous group rivals and can be backed at 5-1 with bet365 and Betfred to top the section, while Slovenia are 12-1 and the Algerians 25-1. One should never underestimate any country who have made it through to the finals of a major tournament but if England don’t make the last 16 with the minimum of fuss they will surely never be forgiven. Slovenia, who failed to muster a single point in their only previous appearance in the finals, and Algeria, easily the weakest of the African nations to qualify, both needed a play-off to reach South Africa, while the USA eventually struggled to top the North and Central American qualifying group despite winning their first four games without conceding a goal. American soccer fans still fondly recall their country’s famous win over England in Brazil in 1950 and several of their key players nowadays ply their trade in Europe. But the majority of their squad are still based in the less-than-competitive MLS and even though they had an excellent Confederations Cup campaign recently, where they beat Spain and ran Brazil close, they will surely struggle to contain a full-strength England who’ll be backed by a huge following in South Africa. I’m sure we’ll cover the 2010 World Cup in more depth next year but other early odds that catch the eye are hosts South Africa to win Group A at 8-1 with 888sport and Blue Square against woeful France and regular under-achievers Mexico and Uruguay (they are only 4-1 with Ladbrokes), and the Netherlands at 4-5 with Paddy Power and Victor Chandler to win Group E. The Dutch are in a different league to fellow Europeans Denmark on their day and, now that they’ve found a level of consistency in tournament finals, should know too much for Cameroon and Japan.