tonight see’s the first of the final ‘Four dartsmen’ qualifiers, with only four days remaining and the final seat being claimed on Friday, don’t miss your chance to join the gang at the Winter Gardens, Blackpool for the Stan James World Matchplay this summer…

Wednesday night sees Russ ‘The Voice’ Bray step forward with his $250 bounty, just look for ‘thevoice’ at the tables.

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Murray, a man so popular they’ve actually named a mint in his honour… Leaving the foul breathed, Fondue Fed struggling to keep up in the ‘fan proximity’ stakes. However, it’s not about minty gasps this weekend. Wimbledon, the intergalactic centre of the lawn tennis cosmos, as it’s commonly referred to, hosts the finals this weekend starting Saturday with shock draw contestants the Williams sisters slogging out the ‘ladies’, and we hope to see a Murray v Federer final on the Sunday…

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The Lions will be looking for revenge and to regain a bit of pride from the 3 test series v South Africa which could have gone either way after a last minute kick last week. Coach Ian McGeechan has made 8 changes to his starting 15, South Africa have managed to top this with 10 changes to their team after the brutal 2nd test. South Africa go into this match as 8 point favourites, can they win and make it a 3-0 whitewash?

Stan James will be offering Evens the handicap for the Lions v South Africa from 5pm today so make sure you take advantage of our special prices!

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Jordan is due to open her heart out to Piers Morgan in an ITV interview on Saturday July 11th but have the viewing public had enough of the Katie & Peter circus?

Stan James have opened a market as to how many viewers will tune into the 45-minute show on ITV1 on Saturday week, what colour will she wear for the big occasion and whether or not she will cry under the interrogation from the Britain’s Got Talent judge?

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Angel has flown the Big Brother nest so that leaves 11 lucky contestants still fighting it out to be crowned winner of Big Brother 2009, however 11 will soon become 10 with the eviction of either Halfwit or Sree this week. Freddie is up for the 4th time running but has become the shows 7/4 strong favourite to win overall it’s very likely he’ll survive once again. Rodrigo has dropped down to joint second favourite this week alongside Siavash. Sree is Stan James favourite to go this week mainly due to his stalking of Noirin, maybe all his obsessing has sealed his fate which may see his Big Brother dream coming to an abrupt end.

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Murraymania heats up again this afternoon when the Brit will try to defeat American Andy Roddick to become the first British male in the Wimbledon Final since 1938. Despite recent great form and the hype surrounding him, the Scot knows he has to give his very best against former Wimbledon finalist Roddick. Have a look at over 20 markets we have created for this highly anticipated Semi Final!

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This week’s Tour schedule sees golf betting action from the Open de France where last year Pablo Larrazabal beat former Order of Merit winners Colin Montgomerie and Lee Westwood to the title.

Who will take the title this year?

Once again we are offering our unique Place Only and Enhanced Win Only markets, so why not take advantage!

Stan James is betting In-Running from 9.30am tomorrow; catch all the action live on Sky Sports 2.

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July 1-5 Las Vegas Desert Classic (darts)

Nearly 200 players have entered the Las Vegas Desert Classic which is live on Sky between 1st and 5th July held in the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. This is the eighth year of the Tournament which has been won by Phil “The Power” Taylor” on four previous occasions including last year when he defeated James Wade 13-7.

July 2-5 AT & T Tournament (golf)

Tiger Woods returns to the PGA tour having failed to defend his US Open Title at Bethpage earlier in the month. This is likely to be Tiger’s last tournament ahead of the Open Championship at Turnberry next month. Following the demise of Setanta this event will be shown on Eurosport.

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Andrew Hughes provides the lowdow as the IPL’s form teams go head to head…

Team News

With both sides in a rich vein of form, I wouldn’t expect too many changes. Chennai may consider dropping Manapreet Gony again after a horror show with the ball on Thursday. Rajasthan have finally found a batting line up that works and will probably be unchanged.

Conditions

There doesn’t seem to be much evidence that batting second in day/night games here is a problem, indeed in the second ever Twenty20 game here back in 2007, Cape Cobras successfully chased down 187 batting under lights.

Match Odds

These two met nine days ago and the result on that occasion was a resounding win for Chennai, thanks largely to Suresh Raina’s 98 which set up a total of 164 that Rajasthan’s hit and miss batting line up was never going to overhaul. Since that game, both teams have been undefeated and find themselves perched at the top of the table. Rajasthan’s success is the more remarkable and the ability of Shane Warne and his coaching team to get the best out of unheralded youngsters is extraordinary. Naman Ojha and Abishek Raut are the latest Indian players to feel the Warne effect and with Graeme Smith back in form and Lee Carseldine steadying the batting order, Rajasthan have looked a lot more solid. Chennai are likely to be favourites, around the [1.7] mark, but anything above [2.1] for Rajasthan would represent real value.

Top Batsman

For Chennai, you can take your pick of Matthew Hayden and Raina, though Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been available at tempting prices for a while now and would be interesting at [6.0] or higher. The market for Rajasthan top bat is much more open and it could pay to take a chance on the youngster Ojha who has made such an impact. He is worth backing at potentially rewarding odds.

Featured Market

Rajasthan’s new opening pair of Smith and Ojha look promising and it could be worth backing them to provide the highest opening partnership at more than [2.0].

Andrew Hughes runs the rule over tomorrow’s fist encounter between a team that were unconvincing in victory last time out against one that was valiant in defeat…

Team News

Deccan’s win over Mumbai on Wednesday was not completely convincing and they may bring back key spinner Pragyan Ojha, possibly at the expense of Ryan Harris. Punjab made a valiant attempt to chase a massive total against Chennai on Thursday and didn’t do a lot wrong so will probably be unchanged.

Conditions

This is the first game at the De Beers Diamond Oval and though the evidence of the domestic Twenty20 matches to be held there is not conclusive, the impression is that batsmen will enjoy this wicket and with sunny weather forecast, there may not be much help for the bowlers.

Match Odds

Deccan’s perfect start ground to a halt with three straight defeats, due to the failure of their batting line-up to support Herschelle Gibbs and Adam Gilchrist. The departure of Fidel Edwards has weakened them further, but they scrapped well against Mumbai last time to stop the rot. Punjab improved after a poor start but have now lost three of their last four and their bowlers were smashed around the park by Chennai last time out. I would expect this to be a slightly scrappy affair, with both sides waiting on the return of their Aussie stars but Deccan are likely to be favourites, probably around [1.85] and should be backed at that price.

Top Batsman

The value in the Deccan top batsman market is to be found outside the opening pair. Tirumalsetti Suman has had an immediate impact, currently topping the Deccan averages and should be around [6.5] or higher. For Punjab, now might be the time to jump on the Yuvraj Singh bandwagon after his valiant half-century on Thursday. He won’t be much bigger than [4.0] but when he’s in form, he is consistent.

Featured Market

There are plenty of runs in this wicket and ‘Over 68.5′ in the Highest Individual Score market looks a good bet if you can get [2.0] or higher.

Geoffrey Riddle believes that the away sides will need to emulate Leinster’s heroics of last weekend if they are to progress to the final. But where does that leave bettors?

Ever since Munster meekly conceded to Leinster in the Heineken Cup last weekend, it has been difficult for punters to place their faith in anything. Leinster’s win was momentous, and at [1.33] the painful loss of backing the reigning champions will live long in the memory for those who invested in the Red Army.

A similar effort is going to be needed by Bath and London Irish this Saturday if they are to break the dominance of home sides in the Premiership play-offs. There have been nine play-offs since the inception of the knockout format in 2003, and only Andy Goode’s miraculous drop-goal effort last year for Leicester against Gloucester has propelled an away side into the Premiership final.

Bath travel to the Walkers Stadium to face regular season winners Leicester for the first semi-final at 3pm. London Irish take on their old landlords Harlequins at The Stoop at 5.30pm. Both of the home teams boast strong form, and it is no wonder therefore to see Leicester trade at [1.38] and Harlequins [1.57].

The Tigers, under their award-winning coach, Richard Cockerill, are on a sensational streak having lost just one of their last 11 matches in all competitions. They also have a strong pedigree in semi-finals, a stage at which they have not lost in their last seven attempts in all tournaments. And there are further statistics to suggest that Cockerill’s men may go all the way. No Grand Final winner has finished the league with less than 68 points, which, if taken literally, means Leicester are home and hosed already.

Bath have also played Leicester four times this season and won only once, the 25-21 Premiership fixture at The Rec in November. If you are a trader, the [2.32] about Leicester winning the Grand Final looks easy money ahead of next weekend’s Twickenham showdown.

However, Leinster’s win highlights how dangerous it is to write off the opposition so easily, and Bath’s form merits close inspection. Steve Meehan’s men have had a week more preparation time than their rivals, with Leicester facing a six-day turnaround.

Bath have performed exceptionally away from home in the league, scoring an average of 19.8 points on the road against sides that finished in the top six. They beat Sale and London Irish, and if the visitors can front up to Cockerill’s Tigers, the ‘overs’ in the total points market may well bust once more in a Leciester fixture.

Leicester average just over 32 points at home this season in all competitions, but that figure goes down to 27.7 when you take out the whippings against Bristol and Treviso. When you consider that Premiership semi-finals are generally high-scoring affairs, the ‘overs’ are an alluring bet for this match.

Although Harlequins and London Irish have been among the best sides for running the ball this season, it is actually their defence that has got them into the top four. As a result, the total points market looks tricky pre-match, particularly as these teams struggle to put in a solid 80-minute display.

Quins built up massive leads in the first half earlier in the season, while London Irish have struggled in the first 40 minutes throughout the entire campaign. They were level against Worcester last week at the break before going on to score four second-half tries to win 32-15, and last month they trailed Northampton 21-8 at the interval. It was the same story in both the matches against Harlequins at The Stoop this season, too, with Irish winning both encounters.

But a lot has been made of these weaknesses, both in the media and on the training pitch, and I’m not sure how much of a bearing these tendencies will have on the outcome of this fixture. I certainly wouldn’t consider Harlequins as a back-to-lay proposition solely for these reasons.

What is important, however, is the Exiles’ record away against teams in the top six. They drew with Bath, and lost to Gloucester and Leicester by two points. Only Sale stretched things by winning 14-8. As a result, Irish look a decent pre-match trade in the handicap market, as well as the winning margin market receiving 1-12 points.

Anyone who saw Irish play against Worcester a fortnight ago may have thought that skipper Bob Casey had never met Nick Kennedy before, such was the paucity of decent lineout ball in the first half. But Casey had just returned from injury, and the lineout will be a strong source of possession for the Exiles this time around. A useful tool in what is likely to be a close encounter.

Durham bowler Graham showed he knows his Onions as he took five wickets on debut as the West Indies collpased and England enforced the follow-on. The tourists are now very much on the ropes but with typical English May weather around you can’t take anything for granted writes Ed Hawkins.

England win by 10 wickets
Easy for England. Misery for West Indies. It could get worse for them up in Durham next week, too. They have struggled with the swinging ball and the cold. It’ll be twice as tough on both counts oop north. Still, it should be a terrific trading Test. Join us for all the market moves, stats and laughs next time.

18.00 Eng 15-0
Jeeeez Cook looks in awful touch. Put that in the notebook and save it for next week. He is feeling for the ball. His hands are doing all the work and his feet are going nowhere. Irritatingly, England are making heavy weather of this. Pathetic stuff really.

17.45 Eng 7-0
I suppose while we are on the subject of discussing England bowlers who have flattered to deice on friendly surfaces, we should include Ryan Sidebottom. Was super in England, and in New Zealand (which has the exact same pitches as here), before being poor in West Indies. He did do well in Sri Lanka, though as memory serves.

17.32 Eng 0-0
Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook are ready to go. Come on Cook, don’t mess around here. Get on with it.

17.22 WI 256
That’s that then. England need 32 to win. Brendan Nash was the man to fall. He made 81 and very well too did he bat. We suspected he had it in him to score runs in these conditions so that give us a bit of a lift for the next Test. Knowing there is another WI batter other than Chanderpaul who can cope gives us punting scope. We could add Ramdin, too to form a little trio.

17.20 WI 256-9
Alas, I fear my new healthy-living lifestyle has gone awry. Although buying biscuits with only 1.3g fat per biscuit sounds a good idea, it all falls down when you eat 17 of them. I couldn’t help it. I just kept shovelling them in, almost in some sort of trance-like state. Oh well, at least I gave it a good go.

17.06 WI 250-9
Back to the ‘Know Your Onions’ chat. Phil Newport and Neil Mallender were both successful on their England Test debuts but barely played again. Newport, you may recall, played for Worcestershire. He took seven wickets on debut on a seamer against an inexperienced Sri Lanka tea. He played only twice more. Mallender, now an umpire, took 8 v Pakistan at Headingley in 1992. He played one more Test.

17.00 WI 249-9
The end is nigh. Fidel Edwards has fended one to the gully off Stuart Broad. He scored two and a falling Tim Bresnan took the catch. I tell you what, when he hit the ground a small child in Wales probably fell of their bike. He is the definition of the term ‘big unit’. So much so that he could probably sue Ikea for image rights.

16.42 WICKET 246-8
Big Sulieman Benn goes. Shoddy effort from him. That man Swann again. Meanwhile, Portuguese Pirate says: “I remember Richard Johnson taking a load of wickets against Zimbabwe (I think) about 6 years ago and then having little or no success after that.” Indeed, Johnson was the third man in our list of very English-type seamers who flattered to deceive. He did impress against Zimbabwe, taking 6-33 in 2003. However, he played only three more Tests. I’ll fill you all in about Phil Newport and Neil Mallender a bit later, too. I’m sure there are many, many more. Email me at hawkeyeview@hotmail.co.uk

16.43 WI 243-7
The Test Match End market continues to bop. ‘Come on, Eileen!’. Into [1.08] from [2.40] as Graeme Swann dismisses Jerome Taylor from his presence with a very shouty leg before appeal.

16.35 WI 230-6
There are 41 overs left tonight folks. That gives England ample time to take the four wickets required. There has been some interesting market movement as a result of that Nash-Ramdin partnership. The Test Match End has been jiggling around like your mum on the dance floor at a cousin’s wedding. It’s out to [2.10] to end today having been dead skinny earlier – about [1.40]. Day 4 morning is [3.40].

16.11 WI 225-6 TEA
Scores level. The session belongs to West Indies. However,Jerome Taylor looked very shaky indeed. England should still be confident of winning tonight with the longest session to come.

16.00 WICKET WI 224-6
Within three runs of England, West Indies have lost their sixth wicket. It was Ramdin who went. Bowled by Stuart Broad. England needed it because, true to form, when the ball stops swinging they look pretty toothless. Jerome Taylor is the new batsman. England briefly hit [1.04].

15.46 WI 201-5
Bit confused. They should be at tea. Perhaps my watch is fast. A flurry of boundaries for WI. Remember, this Lord’s wicket historically gets better to bat on. That is what we’re seeing here.

15.40 WI 189-5
50 for Ramdin. He is a good player this chap. We spoke about it first time round. Good to see WI showing some backbone here. They only trail by 36 runs, you know. England have to work harder.They will be pleased to go in at the tea break now to regroup.

15.30 WI 183-5
Our Graham Onions debate continues as he gets whacked for consecutive fours to bring up the 100 partnership between Nash and Ramdin. And you can back England again. At [1.01]. So, is Onions – who as I type has dropped a caught and bowled chance – just another in a long line of county seamers who impress in bowler-friendly conditions? A horses for courses selection. To get the debate going here are three names for you: Phil Newport, Neil Mallender and Richard Johnson.

15.15 WI 159-5
Made myself a salmon sandwich. It is, if I say so myself, bloody tasty. It’s part of the new lifestyle. I’m trying to cut down on the biscuits and cakes. I have some McVitie’s Rich Tea beside me. A biscuit staple. Nothing flashy but they get the job done. If Brendan Nash was a biscuit he would be a Rich Tea. There is only 1.3g fat in each biscuit. Unfortunately I let myself down yesterday by eating the Ravi Bopara of confectiuonary – two choc eclairs. It’s going to be a slow process, folks. Give me time.

14.58 WI 132-5
Drinks. Ravi Bopara has come on for a bowl to see if his wobbly-dobblers can prise out Ramdin or Nash. Probably a good move by Andrew Strauss to get a part-timer on from the Nursery End. There is a very strong wind blowing down the ground so Onions or Broad would have been really battling against the elements. You still can’t back England by the way. West Indies trail by 93. There can be no harm in having a little lay of England at [1.01] because sooner or later some money will turn up to back the hosts, particularly if these two continue to look comfy.

14.41 WI 122-5
This is a damning indictment on West Indies: despite a 42-run partnership by Ramdin and Nash, so unconvinced by their spirit, technique and ability are punters that you cannot back England to win this Test. England are [1.01] to lay.

14.37 WI 121-5
CSB has come up with an example of an English bowler who was taking Test cricket by storm and then disappearing. “Martin Bicknell played his fourth and final Test against South Africa in 2003. He took six wickets so would count as someone who had ‘arrived’ before being asked to leave.” I think the problem was that he was 34 at the time.

14.19 WI 112-5
Of course to compare Onions with McGrath is quite ridiculous. If Botham is putting him side by side with McGrath, he must be talking about the Australian in the twilight of his career. This is to damn with faint praise. McGrath would stick it on off stump time at no more than 85mph at the end. Effective but not devastating. To compare a bowler with McGrath at the beginning of his career (or indeed for the majority) is something different altogether. McGrath was deadly accurate, fast, got seam movement and extraordinary bounce. He was brilliant. One of the best there’s ever been. Not like Onions, then.

14.02 WI 96-5
Sirloin of Beef and Mike Atherton are arguing about how good Graham Onions is going to be. Beef reckons that Onions is the next Glenn McGrath. Atherton is urging caution and that he does not expect the Durham man, who has seven wickets so far, to be a “supertstar”. Unsurprisngly, I’m siding with Atherton. In swinging conditions against batsmen who find conditions alien, there are a plethora of English bowlers who would have picked up wickets. Maybe not as many as Onions but enough to convince people like Botham that England have unearthed something special. They almost certainly haven’t. Onions can be a steady, stock bowler for England but he is unlikely to thrive on flat surfaces against better batsmen. Email me at hawkeyeview@hotmail.co.uk if you can think of any bowlers of similar ilk who have burst ointo the scene only to disappear.

13.42 WI 80-5
England will look to wrap up the Test in this next session. Five wickets will do it for them. With the West Indies having been so spineless, it would be no surprise if they folded. The statistics suggest they will not keep Andrew Strauss and co waiting for long. In the last 10 Tests when they have been five wickets down for 80 runs or less, they average 163. Their average sixth-wicket partnership under the same criteria (but last 5 Tests) is just 25.

13.01 WI 80-5 LUNCH
Anyway, back to my stats. I spent ages working out some averages for you all in the hope that we might unearth some value on the West Indies runs market. When they have been bowled out for 200 or fewer in first-innings, in their next dig they average 215. And since 2000, in all away matches they average 226 in the third innings of a Test. Quite close together those aren’t they? You could argue that with those numbers in mind, the [2.54] they score 200 runs or more is value. But you’d be bonkers, too. They have only Ramdin to come and then it’s the bowlers.

12.57 WICKET WI 79-5
Try to keep up folks. Devon Smith’s stumps have rearranged by that man Onions. Gosh, Smith really is hopeless. He gets in, gets out. This time he’s made 41.

12.54 WICKET WI 75-4
So much for our hope that Chanderpaul might look comfortable.He’sout. Getting an inside edge onto his pad off Graeme Swann, Ravi Bopara held onto the chance. West Indies are repeating their collapse of the first innings. And for the second time they have reduced the impact of some nice stats work I’ve done. Will post those in a mo.

12.44 WICKET WI 70-3
Onions has made the breakthrough. Lendl Simmons caught at slip. I suppose England might just have begun to start feeling a little frustrated until that wicket. It brings Shiv Chanderpaul to the crease. Despite his golden duck in the first innings, he remains the most prized of wickets. He will be key to whether we decide to have a bet. If he starts to look comfortable, then we could consider a lay of England in the expectation that their price will drift. And with Brendan Nash in next, someone capable of being almost as obdurate, it provides a cushion. England are [1.04] to lay.

12.32 WI 69-2
Weather’s amazing isn’t it? Less than three miles up the road in London we have a bit of rain. Here the sun is out, the birds are singing etc. The players are staying on, though. West Indies pair Devon Smith and Lendl Simmons are on 37 and 22 respectively. For small money,you could back Smith at [2.00] for top bat. But my cash will be staying in my pocket. Smith’s record of getting a start and then failing to pass 50 is horrible. Only 5 50s in 53 Test innings I believe. And England haven’t tried Graeme Swann against him yet. Swann has nailed him four times this year. Shiv Chanderpaul is [3.50] and Any Other Batsman [3.55].

12.14 WI 46-2
Perhaps unsurprisingly it has been a rather quiet start this morning. There has been bits and pieces of swing for the England bowlers. A few umbrellas are going up around the ground but David Lloyd tells us that the clouds are high. As for the prices, they are high, too. The draw is [40.00] and WI are [60.00]. England are low,low, low at [1.04].

12.00 WI 43-2
We are underway. The pitch, which in the last six Tests has got better and better to bat on, will have been juiced up a bit by that shower. That will please England. West Indies, one would think, are just waiting for the knockout blow. They are a whopping 182 runs behind. Still, at least the sun is out and although it sounds rather pathetic, that should bring smiles to their faces. The commentators have put their poor bodly language down to the fact that it has been so chilly. I know, it is ridiculous isn’t it? Imagine if I had suggested you should back England in this Test because West Indies don’t like the cold. You’d have never come back.

11.37 WI 39-2 RAIN
Blue skies overhead now and sun streaming through the windows here (I’m actually 2.4 miles from Lord’s – I looked it upon some fancy map). It’s going to be a lovely day. The covers are off as well.

11.13 39-2 RAIN
Inspection at 11.30 with a view to starting at noon

11.11 WI 39-2 RAIN
Still wet at HQ. They are trying to get the water off the covers, though so the process of mopping up to get some play this morning is underway. Graeme Swann is raring to go: “If we bowl like we did yesterday we should win this today.”

10.52 WI 39-2 RAIN
Raining at HQ which is odd because it is not raining outside my window, which is about five miles from the famous old ground. I’m trying to work out which way the wind is blowing. There are a few puddles on the covers but Lord’s is nothing if not an excellent draining ground so as soon as the rain stops, the delay should not be much more than an hour. The draw remains as big as [38.00] and England are as short as [1.04].

Scott Ferguson fancies a top-order match bet as team of bottomless batting talent take on a team that looks pancake thin.

Team News

Delhi

Warner has been replacing Sehwag (injured hand), but this displaced Vettori. With Nannes, Dilshan and de Villiers, all firing, it’s a sign of good depth if Vettori has to go! Five batsmen have made 50s, covering for the underperforming Gambhir and Sehwag, while five bowlers have taken three wickets in an innings. Again, signs of very good depth. Only the part-time bowlers have been going for 8.5 per over or worse. Perhaps Glenn McGrath might get a game, he can’t be left on the bench forever. With five wins out of seven and games in hand, they can afford to rotate the team.

Mumbai

The Sachin factor hasn’t rubbed off on the rest of the squad. With three wins out of eight matches, only the rabble named after a talking car sit below them on the table, because Mumbai have beaten them twice. Duminy tops the runs tally and after him and Tendulkar, the cupboard is bare. Jayasuriya has scored one fifty and average 15 from the other six matches, Bravo has similar stats and the rest are just all-round poor. Napier has gone home, the batting depth is pancake thin. Zaheer Khan missed Wednesdays game with a shoulder injury, he may return. Malinga is the star bowler of this team with a dozen wickets, going at just five per over. Bravo and Jayasuriya have chipped in with eight and five respectively, but at more than eight per over. Harbhajan has been keeping things tidy at under seven per over, but three wickets from seven matches is a poor return for an elite bowler.

Venue, pitch and conditions

This is the last of three matches in East London. Both sides winning the toss have batted first and won. Chennai went nuts and scored 178 in a day-nighter, then tore Deccan apart bowling under lights. Mumbai could only rack up 148 against the shiny, talking cars, then struggled to bowl them out. Zaheer Khan took three as Malinga came out wicketless.

Rain is forecast tomorrow so bowlers will definitely have the advantage under lights.

Match odds

Delhi should start around the [1.73] mark, they’ve got the form on the board. Mumbai have beaten Kolkata twice and Chennai in the opening game. Their form is fading fast. Even if Delhi lose the toss, they’ll still be odds-on as the gap between then and Mumbai is significant. Delhi have depth in batting and bowling, Mumbai rely too heavily on too few.

Top batsman

The opening batsmen keep coming up short while Delhi’s best runscorers have been Dilshan and de Villiers. If you can get [5.0] or better for either of them, take it. Similarly, Tendulkar will always be short for Mumbai, but Duminy can usually be found at [5.0] because he doesnt open. Mumbai rely on him to hang around and save the innings, the top order rarely fires to keep him out of contention.

Featured market

The matchup between Duminy vs de Villiers appeals. JP Duminy has been a revelation in the past six months, almost single-handedly beating Australia in Australia, and now he’s faced with holding the Mumbai innings together with sticky tape. He accumulates runs (238 so far), whereas de Villiers (181) has the only century of the series and little else to show for it. Back Duminy to score more runs at [1.8] or better.

The news that Tom Shanklin may join Tomas O’Leary missing the Lions tour to South Africa doesn’t necessarily mean that you should put your money on the hosts, says Ralph Ellis. After all, the Spring Boks have injury woes of their own to contend with.

It was just days after Ian McGeechan proudly announced his Lions squad to tour South Africa that Ireland scrum half Tomas O’Leary broke his ankle and the Munster star was ruled out almost as soon as he’d been ruled in. Now this morning comes more bad news for McGeechan and his sidekick Warren Gatland. Wales centre Tom Shanklin dislocated his shoulder playing for Cardiff against the Dragons last night.

It’s tough luck on the 29-year-old who also had to pull out of the 2005 Lions tour because of a serious knee injury which at the time appeared might have ended his career. The early bulletins are that he could yet recover in time, but however easily surgeons and then physios can pop a shoulder joint in and out, it’s a worrying development with the first game of the tour barely three weeks away.

But before you take that as the signal to pump even more money on to South Africa to win the Test series at [1.46], remember that injury news is a two-way street. And the Lions are not the only ones with a few thorns in their paws at the moment.

This morning’s Daily Mirror carries a good interview by Alex Spink with Wales’ record try scorer Shane Williams, but the sting is in the tail of the piece because the Springboks have got problems. Full back Conrad Jantjes has been ruled out with a broken leg, as has Bath’s World Cup winning fly-half Butch James who is suffering from cruciate ligament damage. There’s more, because Francois Steyn will not play for two months due to a knee injury and centre Jean de Villiers is doubtful for the first Test.

The last Lions tour went badly wrong because the players didn’t have enough time to buy into Sir Clive Woodward’s ethos of a huge backroom staff of specialist coaches and sports scientists and morale for the trip was never right. McGeechan and his number two Gatland come from different stock and you suspect will make a far better fist of moulding together a group of players from four different nations.

At the very least they could be capable of winning one of the Tests, and if you’re not brave enough to lay South Africa for the series at [1.46] then think about laying the 3-0 home winning margin at [2.8]. That’s a very short price for a whitewash and for all their initial niggling injury worries, the Springboks have more problems.

Incidentally Welsh wizard Williams, who only just made the 37 strong touring party after a fairly miserable back end to his season, reckons he’s ready to prove he still has plenty to offer. He says: “The Six Nations didn’t go as well as I wanted, but I was injured in the first game and probably only 85 per cent fit for the rest of the championship which was reflected in the way I played. I’m fully fit now, I’ve got plenty left in the tank, and I’m ready to prove it.”

Five things you might not know about Tom Shanklin

1. Born in Harrow in Middlesex, his full name is Tomos George L

2. He joined Saracens and went on a pre-season week of endurance work with the Royal Marines and Shanklin was named as the worst trainer. A few weeks later he was picked for his debut and never looked back

3. His dad Jim won four caps for Wales between 1970 and 1974 – and flew the 18,000 mile round trip to Japan to watch Tom’s debut for Wales in. Jim’s debut was also against Japan

4. He turned down an invitation from Clive Woodward to play for England when he was assembling the squad that subsequently won the 2003 World Cup

5. At the time he won his 50th Wales cap in February 2008 he was only the 20th player to reach that landmark

Ravi Bopara saved England’s bacon on the first day at Lord’s. He resumes today and will be looking to take the home side way beyond 300. Ed Hawkins leads you through the action on the pitch and on Betfair. Email him with your questions at hawkeyeview@hotmail.co.uk.

18.15 WI 39-2 CLOSE
Nasser Hussain has summed it up nicely: “Since 11 this morning West Indies’ body language has been abysmal.” And it has cost them the Test. First thing this morning they were close to being on top but they bowled poorly, allowing England to post 377. Then came the batting collapse. To be fair, we called it. The shoddy fielding was a clue that all is not well within the camp and when that is the case spineless batting usually follows. We will be back tomorrow to see if England can wrap this up inside three days. They are as short as [1.06]. West Indies trail by 186 runs.