Cricket & Racing

Well the first Test is upon us and its time to pull out the mac's and the umbrellas! They really have got their money's worth out of the new drainage system at the home of cricket since they installed it! Commiserations to my Rangers friends out there. Beaten by the better side in the end, but no shame in getting as far as they did, and there's still every chance of a domestic treble.

11 England to beat New Zealand 6/5 (LOST +1.73) The rain stayed longer than forecast in the end and so the gloom meant no result was possible)
England should beat New Zealand. Whether it should be said publicly by the coach or not is another thing, but England should be expected to beat New Zealand, and dominate them as they did in the last two Tests down under a few months ago. And with the added benefit of home turf, and only a handful of New Zealander's having played in England before, it looks even more in England's favour. The big driver keeping England at odds against though is the weather. But does it need to be fine for all five days for a result. These two sides have only gone the distance once in recent times, and with the added time that can be made up these days, even three days of good weather can mean almost four days worth of cricket can be played. And the new drainage at Lords is so good that when it stops raining, play can recommence very soon thereafter. And how often are weather forecasters right anyway? Take odds against now...

7.45 Carlisle beat Leeds 2/1 (LOST 2-0 +0.73 - losing a tenner didnt hurt that much for me last night, but seeing those jammy gits get through with another last minute goal did. Here's hoping karma comes around at Wembley)
With 95 minutes on the clock this tie was as good as over, but in the final 40 seconds, dirty Leeds somehow breathed life back into their season and go into tonight's second leg with a chance. But it is still a slim one - and one that the bookies seem to have over-inflated because they are Leeds. Carlisle. Leeds have a decent the second best away record in that division, but is 50/50 against top half sides, won 5, drawn 1, lost 5. However, Carlisle have the best home record, winning 17 and losing just 3 of their 23 home games this season. They ended Leeds 15 game unbeaten run at the start of the season with a 3-1 victory, lost 3-2 at Elland Road in the run-in, and then won 2-1 on Monday night. So thats 7 goals in 3 games against Leeds on top of the home record. So you have to fancy them to score tonight and it may be another close game, but I think Carlisle are too big a price against those stats.