As Alan Donald, rightly has his consultancy role extended with England, Paul Collingwood was quick to sing his praises after their victory over the West Indies on Sunday. Cricket betting fans will be thrilled to place their bets on the possibilities of betting on English victories and results coming from the bowlers’ as well as the batsmen’s efforts.

Alan Donald has always been a man who tells things as they are, and I’m sure there will have been some straight talking to the England bowlers between the Twenty20 matches last week and Sundays’ win. On Sunday I think we saw the second string English bowlers hit the deck and get it in the right place. James Anderson was always up around the 88mph mark and shaping the ball away from the left hander, back into the right hander. It was great to see because you never really felt as though Anderson has been at his best since he first came on the scene.

It was interesting that after the match, Anderson himself commented on Alan Donald’s influencing him to “hold his action” a little longer at the crease. These simple hints are what make the difference, and having been a fan of Alan Donald in his playing days, his own uncluttered bowling action was testament to how keeping things simple works.

I blogged about Alan Donald just after it was first announced that he was to take on the role with England and I will back him to add to his current success by the time we come t the Twenty20 world cup.

Paul Collingwood was made captain of the England one-day cricket side this week and is an interesting and probably the most deserved selection. Bets wouldn’t perhaps have been on him being the number 1 choice but I feel that he is the best choice. He’s one of those brooding types of characters, particularly at the wicket when batting, that seems to be able to go inside himself and find that focus that’s needed at the highest level.

I do hope he can find that focus when he’s on the field. I want to be positive - so I will be, and stick my neck out - that Collingwood will be a hit as skipper. He comes across as a calm and easy going type of a guy but there’s no doubting that he has a steely determination for success. When (not if!) he proves himself in this position, he will be a hot contender for Michael Vaughans’ spot if Vaughan doesn’t hit a consistent vein of form.

To a nice bloke who has probably been one of the hardest working players in the game to get to where he is, we wish him well. Cricket betting is a growth area in online betting in the UK in particular and with Collingwood at the helm of the one-day national side, we can start placing bets on realistic England wins.

Cricket betting fans can get there cricket free bets ready today for the Twenty20 tournament which starts this afternoon and no doubt it will be as popular as ever an attraction for all the fans who actually go to the grounds.

This form of cricket has grown to be a stadium-filler and is guaranteed to give entertainment, excitement, runs, wickets and cause for some bowlers to re-think their career directions. If you’re a pie throwing bowler like me, you know that sinking feeling as the ball is rapidly elevated into the stratosphere. The first optimistic thought is “catch?” But no. It continues it’s journey over the crowd and into the neighbouring streets and if there could be an eight scored in cricket, that would have been one!

 Go and watch one of these games live! I know many people who were never big fans of cricket but have been to a Twenty20 match and never looked back. Because there’s so much action packed into a short time frame, newcomers to cricket see everything happen, i.e. runs, wickets, etc, rather than having to wait through a day of test cricket.

You’ve also got to hand it to the grounds themselves for firstly preparing wickets that suit the batsmen and then encouraging other attractions for the kids - bouncy castles, fairground stand, food stalls. You really get a sense of a community event when you go.

If you fancy a flutter in online cricket betting, visit our home page to see a list of bookmakers who will give you a matched free bet when you join them.

When Monty Panasar first came on the scene last year, who would have bet on him leading the way in the England bowling attack even at this early stage in his test career. At this rate, online cricket betting could move to looking at how quickly Monty will get up to his 100 test wickets.

He’s got the genuine ability to turn a ball sharply and is starting to think more about his game and introducing variations into his pace and flight. His enthusiasm is obvious, Monty’s celebrations are becoming his trade mark with boyish leaps into the air and lots of high-fives (most of which miss their target - had anyone else noticed this?). Still, he’s a lovely guy and with the amount of passion he has purely for the enjoyment of bowling, he’s definitely going to be in the side for a long time.

Harmison showed signs of an improvement despite being wayward on occasions. He still isn’t up to his full pace and doesn’t look completely comfortable about the way he is bowling. Let’s give him some more time under the guidance of Alan Donald, as we blogged about on cricket betting last week.

The third test takes place from Friday June 15th at the Riverside ground in Durham, for the first time at this venue.

There are various options in cricket betting as to what to bet on but as Alan Donald joins the England coaching setup, I think a bet on Harmison getting some five wicket hauls in the coming tests would be a good place to put your money.

As Steve Harmison got off to another shaky start today in the second cricket test against the West Indies, one has to ask how long you have to nurse-maid a test match bowler before he can cope on his own. Mental toughness is a big part of today’s top cricket players, just look at the Aussies - each player is focused and dogged in their performances and you never really think that you’re through their batting line up until they’re all back in the pavilion.

But with Steve Harmison, he’s been around for a long time now and still hasn’t been able to develop that tunnel vision, consistency and self-belief that would carry him through each test bowling fast and accurately. I was one of Alan Donald’s biggest fans when he was a player. Now in his retirement from the action, he comes across as a coach who wants a return to the simpler, more relaxed style of coaching - a removal of a lot of the technical tools used nowadays.

 I think Steve Harmison is going to benefit tremendously from Donald’s input. People think that gaining in self-confidence is a quick fix. Not so - I know from experience. Self-belief and confidence can only be built in a gradual manner to make it permanently instilled into your character. This said, it therefore would seem to make sense to give Donald a longer stint than the 5 weeks currently allocated for his first coaching slot.

There are a number of online betting bookmakers that offer betting while an event is happening. Such bookmakers are Stan James, Blue Square, Betfair and the systems allow you to bet on something while the event is happening. This of course is ideal for the current test series between England and the West Indies as each test moves forward and we know just how unpredictable results for the English test team have been in the past. I mean this in a positive way, as on their own turf, the English cricket team seem to have a knack of turning a game on its’ head. Just when you think that a test is heading for a draw, the next thing you here is that England have won!

Why? Well, because basically we do have players of world class who can do this. So, what does this mean in terms of cricket betting? Better odds! If you’re prepared to have a punt against the way things seem to be going, you’re bound to get better odds.

Bookmakers term it as “In-Play Betting” or “in Running Betting” and it’s a fun method of actually watching a sports match and as the tables turn against what you may have anticipated happening, you can change your strategy before you bet. TV in one eye and phone or computer in the other, you can oversee the unfolding results.

Don’t forget also that you can go to some bookies for TEXT BETTING, one of which is Totesport who offer this fantastic facility which is definitely a sign of the times.

You can see more on these online betting bookmakers and their free bets offers through Free Betting Online.

Cricket Betting is underway for the forthcoming England against the West Indies and cricket free bets can be grabbed from all of the major bookmakers as the smart money swings in England’s favour. But is Chanderpaul the key?

It’s got to be worth having a cricket bet that the Windies can take this series though. Without Brian Lara, there’s no doubting that they won’t be the batting force that they have been but that’s not to say that they’re not improving rapidly. Put the world cup behind you when considering both these teams. Neither gave much of a performance in the World Cup one day matches but we all know that a test series is a completely different kettle of fish!

 West Indies new captain, Ramnaresh Sarwan, is looking forward to the challenge but questions must be asked about their team’s ability to be consistent. The only player of that quality who you would rely on to score runs in every test would be Chanderpaul. A gutsy, unautherdox batsmen, he has this gritty quality that makes him a stubborn opponent and a player that any team is glad to see the back of when they take his wicket. We’re betting that he will be up there with the leading run scorers of the series.

Another contender could be Marcus Trescothik, of course, if he stages a return. I’m sure we’d all like to see him back in form so that his “blazing” style can match that of players like Chris Gayle.

If you’re a cricket fan, you’ll be looking forward to cricket betting on the twenty20 competition which starts  in June. Cricket free bets should hot up for this contest which was initially received with a hot and cold welcome when it started but now has really taken off.

If you’ve never been to a twenty20 match - Go to one! Take the family and friends for an evening game to break up your week and an evening of fun is guaranteed. Most clubs are really making a great event of it with fairground attractions, stalls, food and drink (as you’d expect!) and music.

 Traditionalists don’t tend to be great fans of this version of the game but for some clubs it’s been a lifesaver in financial terms. Nearly every game that I’ve been to is sold out to capacity.

The popularity seems to be that it’s a game that’s fast with all the action you want to see squeezed into a shorter time frame. Wickets, runs, fours, sixes, run-outs - all the things you want to see happening withing around 3 hours. I’m sure professional players enjoy playing it because they can relax their game and free themselves up for some serious stroke making.

They should change the song :

We don’t like (twenty20) cicket - we love it!

Cricket Free Bets will be grabbed at pace this weekend with online betting bookmakers offering odds on all the possible outcomes that you can imagine in a match. Bet on the highest scoring batsman, best bowling figures, tournament highest scoring batsmen and best tournament bowler.

If you’re a cricket fan, you will have enjoyed the ICC Cricket World Cup so far. It’s been a relatively longer competition than in previous years but the betting has continued to be popular all the way through. Mathew Hayden has got to be favourite for highest run scorer in the tournament with his savagely aggressive approach to taking the opposition on from the first ball.

Sri Lanka have some big guns such as Jayawardene but they don’t quite have the depth of the Aussies line up. If Mallinga is fit, I’m looking for the contest between his yorkers and how the Australians will combat it. Will they take him on in a similar way to how they destroyed Shaun Pollock at an earlier stage?

There are some great cricket free bets available through Free Betting Online with Paddy Power (£10 Free Bet) , Skybet (£20 Free Bet) , Blue Square(£25 Free Bet) , Ladbrokes (£25 Free Bet) and Betfair (£25 Free Bet).

Betting on who will replace Duncan Fletcher and/or Michael Vaughan will start inevitably in the aftermath of England’s defeat at the hands of South Africa yesterday. Cricket betting will no doubt take a dive with the money going more towards football now that the premiership is coming to an end.

So what on earth happened yesterday? This is a side that we have seen come back in Sydney over the winter from being down and out to being fierce scrappers that will never lie down. Well, they really rolled over yesterday and I had bet on an England win - even though I had it billed as a close one!

It was a sad sight to see our national team booed off the pitch but what can you say? It’s difficult to see how this defeat can be put solely at the feet of the players. If you look at the way we batted, there was noone who took the attack to the South African bowlers and so they were never pressured. The South Africans, by contrast, bowled tightly but, more importantly, got right in the faces of the England bowlers from the first over. So the difference? A Plan. We didn’t have one. We had no strategy to win that game.

I find it sad that in most sports, the innovation comes from abroad, rather than us , England in particular, developing our own style and others trying to emulate it. The Aussies have taken one day cricket to another level through aggressive and inventive batting (that’ll be from you Mr Ghilchrist!). The All Blacks rugby team have always developed new ways of taking rugby forward, even after they lost their way a for a short perod at the end of the nineties. Brazil have their beautiful style of football which leaves us in the shade.

 Betting on a new coach for the England Cricket Team can start but as Ian Botham and Nassar Hussein muted last night after the match, if Fletcher goes, his replacement will need to be be a good’un. Keep Betting!