England pick up their dreams of a One Day International cricket series clean sweep against Pakistan, and cricket betting reflects the great chance they have, as the second of the five matches takes place at Headingly on Sunday. England dispatched Pakistan in the first ODI at Durham in a shortened match because of rain, after being put into bat first after losing the toss. A wonderful contribution with the bat from Steven Davies, who hit 87, backed up by Jonathan Trott’s 69, steered England to a fairly comfortable victory. Another fine bowling performance from England, then helped restrict the Pakistan batting attack after setting the visitors a target of 275 to win. After all their troubles off the field, the tourists are rapidly looking as if they can’t wait for the tour to be over. Just to put things into perspective, England are in no way shape or form a great, world beating side. They are good, but just not that good, and even then Pakistan can’t raise their game to really threaten much of a challenge to the hosts. Just one test victory against England on the tour so far, is all they have to shout about, and after this first display in the ODI series, there could be a great chance for England to finish on a real high here, ahead of their winter tour to Australia to contest the Ashes.
For cricket betting, Pakistan simply don’t have the tools needed to really compete here, especially in the English conditions. There is talent in the team, but collectively they look to be all over the place. They haven’t helped themselves at times with poor fielding, and lackluster batting, and while they did something to redress those problems in the first ODI, they still fell some way short of being competitive. The more defeats come, the more their confidence will wane. The Pakistan side has been weakened because of all of their troubles, and they are still not there as a team just yet. While that should bring some stability to your cricket betting and the outcome of this ODI series, it should also continue to bring more cheer to English cricket fans. What it will also do for cricket betting, is alter the Ashes betting, even though England should be clear second favourites for that one. The more they win here against Pakistan, the shorter their odds may get for the defence of the Ashes. But, back to business here, for the ODI series, it will be worth looking at England for pulling off a strong series victory against Pakistan. England are still constantly showing signs of improvement in the shortened format, and the biggest developments will come from the batsmen. That is because there is a competition for places, and that means that should work to the advantage of England.
2nd ODI ,Sunday, September 2010
3rd ODI, Friday, September 17
4th ODI, Monday, September 20
5th ODI, Wednesday, September 22
Second ODI Outright Betting Odds
England to win: 3/10 at Bet365
Pakistan: 5/2 at SkyBet
England v Pakistan ODI Series Betting
England: 1/10 at Totesport
Pakistan: 23/1 at BetFair
England v Pakistan ODI Series Correct Score Betting
England 5-0: 13/8 at SkyBet
England 4-1: 7/4 at Paddy Power
England 3-2: 4/1 at Ladbrokes
