Rupert’s Cricket Thoughts

So now England turn their attentions towards New Zealand with a tour in February after a morale-boosting win in the fifth ODI in India. Even though they lost the one day series 3-2 the England camp came out with the usual clichés, Alastair Cook commenting on England learning a lot from their loss and how they have taken positives from the seven wicket win over the weekend. Ian Bell’s unbeaten century formed the backbone of England’s innings as they chased down a target of 227 with room to spare. It was a positive end to a series they had already lost, and Cook was delighted with his players’ attitude.

The black caps will be a much easier exercise as they have looked woeful in the five day form of the game, only managing to beat South Africa in an ODI by default really as the Proteas threw away their chance of glory. One of their brightest stars, Jesse Ryder, is continuing his self-imposed exile from international cricket and is a shame as he has been in terrific form for Wellington this season. He has suffered from personal issues and feels he must get his life back on track before coming out of “retirement”.

A player of Ryder’s ability would clearly be a huge boost to New Zealand but they are sympathetic to his position. The 1/3 about an England test series win looks to be buying money as you just can’t see them losing a match against a poor Kiwi attack. A 2-0 series win out of 3 looks the obvious favourite at 9/4 as you could probably see one match going to a draw as New Zealand will dig in to save a complete embarrassment.

On another note and something that I have blogged on before, Argo cleaned up at the Producers Guild award last night, and is in from 4/1 to 5/4 to take Best Picture at the Oscars. Spielberg’s Lincoln is out to 4/5. Sadly my tip, Les Miserables, must have lost a leg as you can now get fancy prices on that one.