India v. England

Well, let’s start with the bad news first – India deserved to win the third One Day International in Kanpur. Their spin bowlers still have mastery over the English bat and their batsmen are more consistent than ours. The good news for cricket betting fans is that we’re improving. Our bowling aggression and accuracy is on the up and casting Ravi Bopara in the role of opener, in place of Matthew Prior with Captain, Kevin Pietersen, at number three, seems to have worked well. Ravi Bopara needs to settle into the role but is showing every sign that he will.

The Duckworth / Lewis Calculation

The worst four words in cricket, the Duckworth/Lewis calculation, were uttered at the point in the match where the light had failed to such a degree that the umpires called a halt to proceeding while England were in with a shout to win. A small shout, however, because India were favourites to the end. A change in the timings will be required in the sixth match at Guwahati where the light fails even earlier in the day. England also need to speed up their over rate from the thirteen overs an hour in Kanpur.

Back to the good news; it’s all too easy in these days of instant gratification to expect that a new captain will come in and work magic. I have to say that, when Capello took over the England football team, I thought he was a washout after a couple of matches and the recall of Beckham. How things change. Pietersen came to power after a gruelling test series against South Africa when Michael Vaughn’s side had been trounced. The South Africans were resting on their laurels, to a great degree and our success in the subsequent ODIs under Pietersen perhaps was a poor basis for assessment and, too temptingly, gave false hope. Cricket betting enthusiasts must be patient and give our Kevin the time and space to work his team into a winning form and there’s a pretty good chance he’ll have cracked it in time to take on the Aussies in next year’s crucial ashes series.