The Twenty20 international, between England and New Zealand today, heralds the start of the five-match One Day series beginning at the Riverside on June 15th. England’s head coach Peter Moores regards today’s match as an important opportunity to get his men into shape and take the upper hand in the confidence stakes. Many cricket Betting fans regard the Twenty20 format as a bit of a slogfest and, in comparison to test cricket, it is a bit like watching the Bolshoi do a one-off cameo for ‘Strictly Come Dancing’.

Inevitably, there’s more to it than that and the key to success is attack. Opening batsmen need to set the pace with a confident and swift accumulation of runs. Bowlers need threatening and accurate bowling to pin down the attacking strikers and gain the upper hand. Not all batsmen are strong on attack and losing a couple of early wickets can be decisive in this format. Although England invented the Twenty20, others have developed the skills needed to succeed in it and England are still sorting out roles in the team.

England captain, Paul Collingwood is causing some concern with his batting. His average in the recent test series was just 10.66 and in last Wednesday’s Twenty20 against Durham he managed only seven runs. Glovesman Tim Ambrose is looking good, however, and his support for Pietersen in the last test must have upped his confidence. Anderson too, after his superb test bowling performance, will be worrying the Kiwis.

Online betting punters might be well advised to take of heed of the New Zealand captain, Daniel Vettori’s, worrying confidence. He and some other members of his team have gained valuable experience in the Indian Premier League with key man, Scott Styris, having been there for the whole tournament. Vettori believes that Styris’s experience will help in terms of his knowledge of the way the Twenty20 game is moving and developing.

One of the fantastic things that is currently happening concerning the Euro 2008 Championships is the great free bet updates from the top on-line bookies. Signing up for these free Euro 2008 betting offers is as straight forward as they come and it also adds that personal interest to get more involved with the matches still to play considering none of the home nations made it to the final.

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As home favourite, Dani Pedrosa was celebrating his victory in the Catalunya Grand Prix, last Sunday; it was becoming increasingly clear to MotoGP betting fans that this year’s championship battle is between Pedrosa with 135 points and Fiat Yamaha ace, Valentino Rossi on 142. Reigning champ, Ducati Marlboro rider, Casey Stoner, was in pole on the grid in Barcelona but Pedrosa took him on the first corner and the Repsol Honda man never looked back, leaving Rossi and Stoner to fight it out for second place.

Britain’s James Toseland, sixth off the grid, took sixth position for the second time this season and declared himself pleased with the days work and looking forward to his home patch at Donnington on 22 June. He finds the new tracks of recent times hard going and relishes the prospect of the Donnington test. Toseland, lying seventh in the rider standings with 53 points, really, really wants a podium place on that day.

Rossi started from his worst grid position of the season but recovered with a swift paced move through the field. To come second from such a position emphasises the qualities of this rider, especially when it comes to overtaking, and marks him out as a tough one to beat in the riders standings. On the day, though, Pedrosa reduced his lead to seven points and keeps him self strongly in contention.

Get your Free Bet ready for this one - the battle continues!

This summer promises to be a busy time with many major sporting and entertainment events happening all over the globe to keep online betting fans more than happy. In fact its such a busy summer betting calendar that we thought we would pick out a selection for you and also where you can get the latest free betting offers as well.

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Euro 2008 betting is well under way now and who would have thought? The sheer luxury of neutrality for English Football betting enthusiasts now able to sit back and watch without the emotional grind of England persistently underachieving and then performing fabulously and then finally blowing it is something I for one certainly didn’t expect. In my new, laid-back state, all of a sudden I’m an expert on every aspect of team selection and tactics and look on managerial and player incompetence with the scorn they deserve.

Of course, a wager or two helps to promote interest and there’s been no shortage of those. In fact, I’ve been banging on for ages about how online betting has totally transformed our approach to betting on a match but it’s only just now that I’ve fully realised the possibilities. There are just such a vast amount of things you can bet on now. I won’t ramble on about the range – just go to any of the many online betting sites and you’ll see for yourself. Right now I’m dead keen on predicting who’s in the lead at half time and full time and, if I get it wrong at any point in the game, I can compensate by going for a score prediction based on what I’ve seen of the teams so far. It’s worked for me so far.

Let’s say, for example, you reckon France will beat Romania but won’t score until the second half. Romania have never beaten France in a competitive match nor have they ever won their opening match in the Euros. Admittedly, half the French team are injured but there’s plenty to draw on including Anelka if Henry is crocked for the duration of the game. So, you’d go Draw/France on the match and, if France scores in the first half then go for a score prediction of 2-0 after 90 minutes. Welcome back, adrenalin!

The other match this evening, Netherlands v. Italy is harder to call. The Dutch have a good range of players to choose from but have yet to gel as a team. The Italians are beginning a return to form after a period in the doldrums but it’s mostly happening in mid-field and their defensive strength is doubtful. Then again, they are Italy and you never know what they’ve got up their sleeve. This will be an interesting match and very revealing for the group and the latter stages of the competition.

Derby day, Sat 7 June at 4pm and I was sitting here wondering how to pick the winner. Past history told me that it’s not going to be an outsider. Epsom derby betting fans know, only too well, that this is always a race for serious mounts and in any Derby there are at least three or four short-odds horses that can win and only once has a horse longer than 7-1 won. The winning horse needs a good middle draw. Generally avoid those on the edges of the stalls.

Winners of the Dee or Derrinstown Stakes are up there with the prime contenders. Tajaweed won the former and Casual Conquest won the latter. Tajaweed might have a dodgy foot though so I listened out for news on that. Three of the last four Derby winners won the Dante Stakes and Tartan Bearer was this year’s winner with Frozen Fire coming a close second. Curtain Call has been aimed at this race and won his trial at Nottingham with considerable ease. Doctor Fremantle took the Chester Vase last month and accelerated well. Lots of punters rushed to this horse when jockey, Johnny Murtagh chose it as his mount.

If Henrythenavigator was running a lot of people would be putting their money on him. New Approach was second to this horse in both the English and Irish 2000 Guineas and, I thought, wouldn’t be far from the front. Rio De La Plata, ridden by Frankie Dettori, was second in the French 2000 Guineas and Frankie’s been here before and won it.

So, Horse Racing Betting Fans, at time of writing, we now know that New Approach came in first, giving a tough ride by Tartan Bearer. This was a thinker to pick.

It’s almost upon us, The Euro 2008 Championship and for the first time in a long time none of the home nations will be represented at one of footballs most spectacular events. This year we’ll all be watching the 22 day extravaganza from the comfort of our armchairs. So another way to get involved is by having a hand in the Euro 2008 Betting.

We thought here at the free betting blog we would give you a run down of the nations participating and their chances of qualifying from their prospective groups.

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What’s going on in Serbia? Tennis betting fans will have noticed that it’s almost impossible to watch a tennis match in the French Open where both of the players come from a country other than Serbia. Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic, both in the semi-finals, are numbers two and three on the women’s world rankings while Novak Djokivic, also a semi-finalist, is breathing heavily down the necks of Federer and Nadal from the number three slot of the men’s. They have two men in the doubles semi final and the question must be asked ‘how can this small, land-locked country boast an incredible twelve places in the forty semi-final slots of the last five grand-slams?’

It’s not easy to find the answer. Let’s look at some statistics. Serbia has 94 tennis clubs compared with England’s 2,600. In Serbia there are 1600 players, aged 8 to 30, in national tournaments while in England we have 10,337 and the annual budget of the Serbian Tennis Federation (STF) is £330,000 while in England we spend £47.2m. The Serbian Tennis Federation owns no tennis courts.

Baffled by this, and struggling for an explanation, my thoughts turned to a comparison with young black males living in the ghettos of American cities. Sports betting enthusiasts recognise that one of the few tried and tested escape routes is boxing and young men, eager to make something of their lives, literally fight to escape their deprivation. Slobadan Zivojinovic, former Wimbledon semi-finalist and head of the STF, believes the British mentality is tough but ‘if you have a lot of things, you are not hungry’. In other words, there is nothing to struggle against when it’s all dished up on a plate. Jankovic, Ivanovic and Djokovic all trained on courts where they couldn’t play across court because of the walls, and on the other side you had to take care you didn’t run onto the next court.

Tennis is now rivalling football as the national sport of Serbia and Zivojinovic wants the top ten tennis players in the world to be Serbian. He cajoles more and more money out of his government each year and is building a sound basis for this dream to come true. Perhaps there’s something to be learned by our own tennis authorities from this small nation – ditch the Pimms and get into the back end of our inner cities.

Las Saturday saw the final tussle between the songbirds wanting to play Nancy in the forthcoming musical of Oliver, destined for the West End stage, in a huge new Cameron Mackintosh production. Samantha was the first of the three to go and then Jessie, who seemed, to this untrained eye to provide the performance of the night, leaving Jodie crowing at the top of the pile. Followers of TV Entertainment betting, along with everyone else will have been floundering about the outcome, given that Mackintosh and Lloyd-Webber favoured Jessie, while the general public were drawn towards Jodie.

In the history of casting for screen and stage reliance has been placed upon the shrewd and experienced eye to know what will please an audience and how to spot the future stars in auditions. Now, through television and the mechanism of mass voting, we can offer this opportunity to the public but only time will tell of their judgement criteria includes more than an emotional and whimsical appreciation of the artist at face value.

Both Mackintosh and Lloyd-Webber are reported to favour the runner-up and, it is rumoured, Jessie will get the job when Jodie’s contract is fulfilled. These theatre professionals have probably the most successful track-record of all time, in musical theatre, and their ability to see the breadth and depth of talent required and that an artist has to offer surely surpasses that of any audience. The power that the programme hands to the audience to place the trophy in the wrong hands at the expense of the rightful winner must be addressed before the commencement of the next series.