SPORT | IN BRIEF December 17, 2009 Gayle blows Aussies away CRICKET: West Indies captain Chris Gayle smashed the fifth-fastest century in Test history to lead his side’s recovery in the third Test with Australia in Perth. Gayle smashed 102 from just 70 balls as the Windies closed on 214-2 in response to Australia’s 520-7 declared. It capped an incident-packed day which [...]
IN-RUNNING TRADING HINTS December 17, 2009 The most fascinating in-running trading contest of the weekend looks to be Ascot’s Long Walk Hurdle run at 2.05pm tomorrow. Big Buck’s is currently trading at around 1.55 on Betdaq, but I expect him to trade at a considerably bigger price in-running. Last year’s World Hurdle winner never came off the bit on his seasonal [...]
Save the Big Buck’s for Bellvano and Dave’s Dream at Ascot today December 17, 2009 PAUL NICHOLLS continued his extraordinary run of Saturday big race wins by landing last weekend’s Boylesports.com Gold Cup at Cheltenham and the Champion trainer will hope that Big Buck’s can make it a ‘famous five’ tomorrow. Kauto Star, Denman, Twist Magic and Poquelin have all grabbed the racing headlines on consecutive Saturdays for Team Ditcheat [...]
SPREAD BETTING AND CRICKET –THE PERFECT MATCH December 17, 2009 It’s always crucial to keep an eye on the weather when spread betting on cricket and with rain forecast at Centurion, the draw is now the bookies favourite at stumps on day two. The beauty of spread betting means we need not focus on that and can place a bet on England’s first innings batting [...]
Lampard’s spot on for Blues December 16, 2009 CHELSEA (2) VS PORTSMOUTH (1) FRANK LAMPARD rediscovered his range from the penalty spot to help Chelsea regain their three-point lead at the top of the Premier League. Lampard suffered a rare miss from the spot 11 days ago, culminating in a 2-1 defeat at Manchester City. But the England midfielder made no mistake this [...]
MK gets the nod for 2018 bid December 16, 2009 MILTON KEYNES Dons chairman Pete Winkelman couldn’t hide his delight after his club’s home was selected as one of the candidate host stadiums for England’s 2018 World Cup bid. Stadium:MK was the surprise selection after 2018 bid chiefs confirmed the 12 cities that will front England’s campaign. Plymouth was also given the nod, but Derby, [...]
Zamora stars as Fulham march on December 16, 2009 BASLE (2) VS FULHAM (3) BOBBY ZAMORA notched an impressive brace to help Fulham seal qualification to the last 32 of the Europa League as Group E runners-up. In-form Zamora gave the Cottagers the lead with a neat finish from Bjorn Helge Riise’s cross on 42 minutes. He then doubled the advantage with a header from [...]
Spurs show fight December 16, 2009 TOTTENHAM (3) VS MAN CITY (0) TOTTENHAM reignited their charge for a top four spot after inflicting only a second defeat of the season on fellow Champions League aspirants Manchester City. Desperate to blot out the memory of Saturday’s shock home defeat by Wolves, Spurs came out fighting from the off and took a deserved [...]
Gunners let it slip December 16, 2009 BURNLEY (1) VS ARSENAL (1) ERRATIC Arsenal missed out on the chance to close to within three points of second-place Manchester United after being held by plucky Burnley. Buoyed by their victory at Liverpool on Sunday, the Gunners started brightly and took just seven minutes the break down their hosts – Cesc Fabregas popping up [...]
Swann leaps to defence as Kallis hits out December 16, 2009 SPINNER Graeme Swann insists England were justified in their decision to bowl first on day one of the Test series with South Africa despite the hosts setting the platform for a big first innings total. Captain Andrew Strauss won the toss but controversially asked the hosts into bat first on a flat Centurion track – [...]