STAR PREVIEW: England v Sri Lanka with RYAN SIDEBOTTOM

It was an absolute pleasure to be at Old Trafford to see England beat Afghanistan and I have have to say it was right up there with one of the best ODI innings I’ve ever watched live.

I know it was one-sided beforehand in the betting but Afghanistan have some great players and there was still a job to be done.

Having recommended backing ‘overs’ on the match sixes it was a relief to see them being belted out for fun and when you are live at a match you just get a different perspective on the game compared to the TV – especially the sound of the ball hitting the bat !

Elsewhere this week, great to see another strong performance from England’s Lionesses in the Women’s World Cup. The fact they made eight changes and still won just goes to show how much strength in depth to the side there is.

I can only hope the achievements in British sport are motivating more kids to get involved and schools to really encourage our future stars. Anything to get them off their phones and computer games. You can make friends for life through sport and that’s before you even start to talk about the physical and mental benefits.

Monday of course sees me heading to the Ritz in all my finery for the draw of the Star Sports Greyhound Derby Final. I keep getting reminded how important it is but I’m not getting nervous…. MUCH !!!

I’m off to Headingley on Friday for England’s latest game against Sri Lanka – another match that looks one-sided according to the market.

Such is the way England are playing it’s very hard to pick the Top Run Scorer. There’s basically anyone of six you can make a strong case for. Ben Stokes at 15/2 is where my money is going.

Mark Wood didn’t take as many wickets as his bowling deserved at Old Trafford but he’s worth sticking with here at 7/2 to be England’s top wicket taker with starsports.bet.

For Sri Lanka I’m sticking with the experience of Angelo Mathews to be their top run scorer at around 9/2 and whilst the crafty odds-makers have nudged up the line on the match sixes, I’m still going to go over (now 12.5) at 20/21.

RECOMMENDED BETS (scale of 1-100 points)
BACK BEN STOKES Top England Run Scorer 2.5pts at 15/2 with starsports.bet
BACK MARK WOOD Top England Wicket Taker 2.5pts at 7/2 with starsports.bet
BACK ANGELO MATHEWS Top Sri Lanka Run Scorer 2pts at 9/2 with starsports.bet
BACK OVER 12.5 Match Sixes 5pts at 20/21 with starsports.bet

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PROFIT/LOSS SINCE JAN 1 2017: PROFIT 188.25 points
(excluding Cricket World Cup ante-post, and Royal Ascot Thursday)