Australia are odds on to continue their amazing unbeaten record in the Cricket World Cup when they play Pakistan at the R Premadasa Stadium on Saturday morning. The World Champions are now unbeaten in 34 matches in World Cups and last lost a match when they were beaten by Pakistan in 1999. Pakistan are 11/8 to repeat that win according to William Hill, but Australia are industry best priced 4/7 on.
The top spot in Group A is up for grabs for the winner of the match and Pakistan will be keen to bounce back quickly from their humiliating defeat to New Zealand recently. Much of the build up to the match has been dominated by the news that pace bowler Shoaib Akhtar is to retire from cricket after the World Cup, but he is unlikely to play this weekend with the younger and more consistent Wahab Riaz likely to be preferred.
The pitch in Colombo is expected to suit spinners anyway and that is where the tournament's leading wicket taker Shahid Afridi comes in. The leg spinner Afridi has taken 16 wickets already and nine of those have come at Saturday's Premadasa Stadium venue from when Pakistan beat Sri Lanka and Canada. He is industry best priced odds of 5/2 to be top Pakistan bowler this weekend with Hills and it is difficult to look anywhere else on current form.
Pakistan's batting has been more of a concern with Misbah-ul-haq leading the way so far with 192 runs. The opening pairing remains a concern with opener Ahmed Shehzad scoring just 51 runs in five matches and a look at the fall of the first Pakistan wicket coming with under 26.5 runs on the board could be worthwhile at odds of 5/6. Asad Shafiq did impress in his first match as he scored 78 runs and he is tempting odds of 5/1 to be top Pakistan batsman this weekend.
Australia meanwhile are the only unbeaten team left in the tournament despite failing to spark against Canada and Kenya. Captain Ricky Ponting is in desperate need of runs and has admitted it feels like the World Cup is only just starting for them as they take on a test playing nation in Pakistan, although it is Shane Watson that remains their consistent run-getter.
Watson is industry best priced 11/4 to be top Australian batsman, although the addition of Mike Hussey to the squad could be crucial and he looks good value at odds of 11/2 to be top batsman with WilliamHill.com.
Pakistan may have been the last team to beat Australia but it is difficult to see this mercurial side with a suspect batting lineup causing the Australians too many difficulties, particularly as they have already shown a tendency to self implode against New Zealand.
Australia v Pakistan ODI Tips
Tip #1: Shahid Afridi to be top Pakistan bowler @ 5/2 with WilliamHill.com
Tip #2: Mike Hussey to be top Australia batsman @ 11/2 with WilliamHill.com
Tip #3: Fall of first Pakistan wicket to occur with under 26.5 runs scored @ 5/6 with WilliamHill.com
Match Odds
4/7 Australia
11/8 Pakistan
Top Australia Batsman Odds
11/4 Shane Watson
7/2 Brad Haddin
4/1 Ricky Ponting
9/2 Michael Clarke
11/2 Mike Hussey
7/1 Callum Ferguson
Top Pakistan Batsman Odds
4/1 Mohammad Hafeez
9/2 Ahmed Shehzad
5/1 Asad Shafiq
5/1 Misbah-ul-haq
5/1 Kamran Akmal
11/2 Umar Akmal
Odds provided by WilliamHill.com, who will be operating a variety of betting markets, including in-play betting, throughout the 2011 Cricket World Cup.
Posted: Friday, 18th March 2011
Author: Chris James
Tags: cricket world cup, australia, pakistan, shahid afridi, william hill,
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