[ashbury1]

Looks like Harmy will join the squad after his 8 wickets - even though he bowled 15 wides and a few no balls - Better him there than not thought IMO

Ive looked thru the 3 tests and the only one, i think, that England should have a chance of winning is in the 1st test at Kandy. The extra bounce will def suit us more and is prob our best chance of winning a test. Sri Lanka record in Columbo is awesome and the draw in the 3rd in Galle could be worth a punt.

Any thoughts?

[Swooperman]

I havent really looked in depth as yet but England seem a little in disarray at the moment with Harmy & now Anderson injuring themselves. Bopara looks set to play IMO & at least Hoggy is in form & I notice KP in the runs again.
Thing is I'm not sure all is as it should be in the Lankan camp. Vaas was dropped in Hobart which means hes set to play his 100th test in Kandy on saturday but I spoke to our professional in Galle today whos a great mate on Vaas's & asked if he'd play & the answer was 'a lot of things happening here at moment, Swoopi' !!
Bit difficult to know what that means as I wasnt in the greatest position for a detailed conversation being on a works fax machine but the first thing that springs to mind is possibly Vaas might have had something to say in the Atapattu 'muppets' occurence....I might know more closer to the time but you'd think that if Kandy is the more seamer friendly surface then Vaas should be a shoo-in surely
The series is an emotional one for the home side with the aforementioned Vaas 100th test & Muralitharan needing only 4 or 5 wickets to break Warnes record & to do it on home soil would be phenomenal. All the hullabaloo involved in this could take Sri Lankas eye off the ball & I certainly wouldnt be too quick to back them at Galle.
The Galle test was originally the 1st before being put back to the 3rd & it will be an extremely emotional occasion as it is the first test back at the ground since the tsunami totally destroyed it & left only the old fort standing. Its been a long road back from there what with the square having to be restarted from scratch so I would guess history is hard to take into account. I know England were always the ideal opponents for the resurrection test & if SL bat first it might be worth a look at the away side with emotions being strong.

[Pie-chucker]

England have a decent shout in Kandy though expect it to be downhill from there. 4-1 is available and is v. generous I reckon. Same price on series 1-1 which looks also worth a dabble.

[mullet1984]

5/1 betfair on eng looks big to me.

In addition, some excellent Murali special markets,

Hoggard 14/1 to be Murali's 709 th victim (i.e 5th this series) has to be a bet at 365. Panesar 12's as well.

[Swooperman]

I remember taking Hoggard on the MacGrath 500th wicket business in the 2005 Ashes, thinking nightwatchman near close of play & one goes down other end.......no thankyou, once bitten & all that

Layed Lanka @ 1.96 Betfair

[Swooperman]

Apparently it was raining in Galle an hour ago, lightning & the full works.
That said it was swelteringly hot today & has dried out a lot which makes the whole thing very confusing.
Aggers on the BBC has said that when the covers came off the hot sun changed the pitch colour before their eyes, & Vaughan has said its soft but the surrounding practice wickets are harder.
The money going on the draw on Betfair is bordering on unbelievable IMO, & the England price, currently 11.5 is virtually the same.

FACT: Nobody knows anything about this pitch as its been relaid, other than a warm up game reported as 'slow & low'

FACT: Both sides have publicly stated their intentions of getting the game on, no matter what the conditions, due to this being a poignant, emotional occasion

FACT: Although the start time has been delayed by 2 hours, & more rain could mean most, if not all of day 1 could be lost....this time can to an extent be made up. Also a 4 day match means a 150 follow on target. The delayed start time is also to give the groundstaff more time to finish preparations

FACT: When its not raining its bloody hot. Before tonights rain today was sweltering & had made a huge difference to the ground. The pitch though, will not have been prepared properly as it will have been rolled to death whilst still soft, therefore the heat of the sun will bake the top & crack it whilst its still soft underneath, creating a crater like appearance & inconsistent bounce

FACT: England are looking at 5 bowlers with Prior batting at 6. The strip should suit seamers aking that 10/1+ madness

I firmly believe the big hitters have got involved on Betfair by just going on the short prices, & I firmly believe these prices are very wrong. You have to make your mind up yourself but so far I've layed the draw @ 1.77, 1.53 & 1.52 & backed England @ 11.0.......& for me I'm heavily, heavily involved

[ONEDUNME]

Well Swoops it's all over. Rain for the last two days has put paid to the result and you were damned unlucky Swoops but a cracking tip nontheless


I've no doubt you were able to salvage your stake at least and maybe even make a profit. The draw was trading at 1/5 before play on the third day and had gone out to 5/2 24 hours later so I salvaged my stake but left the bet on as I really did fancy a result even if they could get one day's play in (given that it took about 3 hours for England to get themselves out in the first innings). The fact that there was only about 3 days play, played and we were only 4 wickets away from a result shows how bloody close it was to being the tip of the year in my book.

Nice one dude.....and merry Xmas