Cricket

Another quiet sporting day and no point in chasing bets when we're sat very nicely a week into the month. But a titanic clash starts tomorrow.

5am India to beat Australia Draw No Bet 4/5 (DRAW +9.64 - Australia had the better of the test, but the lack of spinner on the last day proved crucial)
There are sporadic thunderstorms forecast for the next five days in Bangalore so we'll take the draw out of the equation for starters. Aside from that though should this be an equal affair? In the two warm-up games, Michael Hussey scored 126 not out, Simon Katich 73, Ricky Ponting 58 not out and the next highest score is 44. But the Australian batting is not the worry - they are a proven unit. Stuart Clarke has taken 7 wickets at an average of 17.57 and a strike rate of 34, but the other seamers - Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee and Peter Siddle are averaging over 30 and strike rates between 64-70. And then you get to their spinners - Jason Krejza's off breaks have taken just three wickets in 42 overs at 78 a piece, an economy rate of over 5.5; while Michael Clarke is yet to take a wicket with 0-84 in 17 overs. And while overall averages for spinners aren't great at Bangalore its because it tends to be a batsman's pitch in the first innings, but then turns on day 5. The average first innings score is 431, 392 in second, then down to 279 in the fourth innings. The first innings of both sides in the last 10 years have yielded 8 400+ totals from 10 innings, with two of those reaching 500 and one 600. But I think Australia will struggle to bowl India out in the second innings, so will struggle to win the match. Go back over the last 25 years and 46 of 68 4th innings wickets have been taken by spinners. If you wanted to win the match would you rather go with debutant Krejza and Clarke with 14 test wickets on your side or Kumble and Harbhajan with 907 test wickets between them?