He may have only just been named England’s one-day and test cricket captain but, such is the English mentality, you can already bet on Kevin Pietersen to fall short in the job.
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Paying further testament to Old Blighty’s inherent pessimism is the fact KP is favourite to fail and is just 1/6 with bet365 not to be as successful as out going test skipper Michael Vaughan. Ladbrokes have gone as far as to offer a market on when he will leave the post. 12/1 before the end of the year is a least somewhat optimistic but favourite is anytime in 2009 which is 2/1. Actually to be fair to the ‘magic sign’ that’s not a bad bet. With the Aussies coming to town for an Ashes series next summer a repeat of the whitewash suffered by England in the last series between the two would put pressure on the South African born captain especially if result have gone badly previously.
England’s longest serving modern day test leader was Michael Atherton who was in charge for a massive 54 tests and Skybet think that’s well beyond Pietersen offering 33/1 that he will surpass that feat.
Of course KP takes over as one-day skipper too but I’m afraid the bookies are just as uninspired on his captaincy in the shorter version of the game too. The big hitter is16/1 to break Nasser Hussain’s record of captaining England for 56 ODI matches.
Coral have Paulie Malignaggi at, a far too big, 7/4 to beat Ricky Hatton when the pair square up in Vegas this November.
The reason this bet looks excellent value is that the New York boxer has more than a decent chance of beating one of Britain’s best.
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Hatton in his last fight looked laboured and uninspired. Facing a tough, yet far short of world class, opponent in Juan Lazcarno ‘the Hitman’ was lucky on more than one occasion that he wasn’t stopped or even KO’d. There was something missing from the performance almost as though the magic that had taken him to the top had been knocked out of him by Floyd Maywether in his previous fight. The Hyde-based boxer also had no plan B and was unable to adapt when the bout didn’t go to script. There was also a suggestion that age may be taking its toll on the IBO champion as his style requires him to take a lot of blows to the head. Also in Malignaggi’s favour is the fact Hatton has just split from long-time trainer Billy Graham and a change of routine in training can have a funny effect on a boxer.
It is true that Maliganaagi himself was unimpressive in retaining the IBF light-welterweight belt against Lovemore N’Dou back in May but he fought most of that bout with a broken hand and it is expected he will be back to his brilliant best come November.
Bookies William Hill have Spurs striker Darren Bent at 25/1 to be the top-scorer in the Premiership next season which makes him a good each-way bet.
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The former Charlton man is likely to get a decent fist of things at White Hart Lane this season after the departure of Robbie Keane to Liverpool. The 24-year-old has been on excellent form in pre-season snaffling 12 goals in half a dozen games, which has lead to rumours of an England recall.
The Tottenham number 10 is a confidence player and if he can carry on his goal touch into the regular season then he’ll go from strength to strength and should find himself in touching distance of the golden boot.
Also Spurs related and also a decent value bet with Hills is the North London club at 2/1 in the ‘without the big four market’. With the usual suspects most likely to occupy the champions league places again this season Tottenham should be the best of the rest and even have a small chance of breaking into the top four.
Away from football the firm are best price for South Africa to win the one day international series against England. Despite England’s resurgent performance in the final test 8/13 about the Proteas is a good bet. The new captain factor and the fact the test series was already won contributed to South Africa’s indifferent performance and they should prove too strong for KP and co in the shorter version of the game.
Blue Square are 9/1 best priced among the major bookmakers about Andy Murray winning the US Open, which starts next week.
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The young Scot has been the form player of the year so far and seems to be improving with every tournament. Ok so the Olympics was a bit of a disaster but because of his Masters win in Cincinnati he arrived in China late and was more than a little under prepared for the conditions in Beijing. You also got the feeling his mind was already at Flushing Meadows thinking about the possibility of making history.
There is now no doubt about the fast hard courts of North America are his best surface, after all Britain’s great hope sprung to fame after winning the Boys title at the US Open in 2004.
The signs still look good for Murray, he has laid to rest the ghost of beating Novak Djokovic after claiming victories over the Serbian twice in the last two tournaments. We also know Roger Federer holds no fears for him with the Swiss on a terrible run of form and with defeats to Murray on his CV already.
The problem is Rafa Nadal, a player Murray is yet to beat and deservedly the new World number one. However a favourable draw could see the Wimbledon quarter finalist go all the way to the final this time and with Blue Square offering half the odds for a top two finish each-way then he could return you some cash.