England looking good for Ashes

CRICKET for the connoisseurs it aint, but Twenty20 has its place in the sport and this weekend sees the start of another significant development in its short, but colourful history.

The Stanford Super Series, which culminates in a $20m winner-takes-all shoot out between England and the Stanford Super Stars, begins on Saturday when the SSS take on Trinidad and Tobago, live on Sky Sports.

England play our domestic Twenty20 champions Middlesex the following day, but the megabucks shoot-out is the game we are all waiting for and that takes place on the following Saturday, November 1.

The SSS, a team made up of leading players from the Caribbean, captained by Chris Gayle and containing the likes of Shiv Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan, are 5-4 to win that game with improving England favourites at 8-11.

England are 1-2 to beat Middlesex this weekend, with the county side on 2-1.



TEST cricket does not get much better than India v Australia and, as forecast in this column last week, the hosts were too strong for the faltering Aussies once they had won the toss and elected to bat.

With two Tests to go and trailing 1-0, the tourists have been pushed out to 16-1 to win the series, an almost unthinkable price for a team of their reputation.

India are 1-3, with the draw next best at 7-2.

As for next summer’s Ashes series, Australia have drifted to 5-6 to come out on top, while England are steady on 5-2.

That’s a huge price in my view, as the Aussies are clearly in decline and England seem to be on the up again under new skipper Kevin Pietersen.

Get on England now because you will be able to trade off on the exchanges as their price plummets.




JOHN Higgins seems to have been around the snooker scene for ages, but is only 33 and showed when winning the Grand Prix last weekend that he is still a match for the best.
The dual world champion has been cut to 12-1 to make it title number three in Sheffield in May, while the brilliant but enigmatic Ronnie O’Sullivan remains the hot favourite at 5-2.




CHAMPIONS League football continues tonight when Chelsea entertain Roma and Liverpool are in Spain to take on Atletico Madrid.

Chelsea, fresh from the 5-0 mauling of Middlesbrough at the weekend, are a best-price 9-20 to win tonight, while the Italians are a rather insulting 10-1, with the draw at 9-4.

Liverpool are 19-10 to win in Madrid, but this game has all the hallmarks of a draw and the 9-4 about a stalemate is too good to resist.




MONEY continues to pour on Cheri Lunghi to win Strictly Come Dancing.

The elegant actress, who has rapidly established herself as a ballroom sensation, has been cut to 9-2 third favourite behind Austin Healey 13-5 and Tom Chambers (4-1).


RECOMMENDATIONS: England to beat Australia in the 2009 Ashes series, 5-2 (William Hill); Liverpool to draw against Atletico Madrid, 9-4 (Coral).