Sri Lanka v England 1st Test

December starts with a bang with the Test Series between Sri Lanka and England, but first we'll concentrate on the First Test in Kandy.

Kandy is a ground where the draw doesn't often come into play, but the forecasts for the next 5 days aren't great with thunderstorms due Sunday and Monday and an early sunset play may be restricted, I'm going to keep the draw in mind for my bets. Kandy is historically Sri Lanka's worst home ground results wise (the only ground they have lost more than they have won on with six wins and 9 defeats) and the venue is often low scoring.

Both the English batting and bowling line up are relatively inexperienced on the sub-continent but the fast bowlers will be encouraged by the pitch which has favoured the pace in the past and England's general record on the sub-continent is good and Sri Lanka's recent test performance isn't great.

I feel that at sub evens to back Sri Lanka are too low in the market while England and the draw are too high, my usual play would be to back England and hope they can either bat first and start to put on a total or they can get a couple of early wickets but with the worry about the weather I'm wanting the draw on side so will be laying Sri Lanka. With the match starting at 5am UK time I will miss at least the first couple of hours (probably more if I'm honest) so if Sri Lanka start with a bang either with the bat or the ball I could wake up to a pretty bad position... it could go the other way though.

If I'm trading on a cricket match I'll use a maximum larger than my normal bet, with my bank being as it is at the moment I'm setting my maximum exposure on the match at 10pts, but will be opening with a 5pts lay this morning @ 1.95 to open my exposure at 4.75pts

5pts LAY Sri Lanka v England @ 1.9


Update: Day 1 Lunch and Sri Lanka 86-5, lovely to wake up to... but the odds still have Lanka favourites... I've had to wee trade
Current position: SL -6pts / England +7.2pts / Draw Level
Update: SL out for 188 and England lose an early wicket, they're 4-1 but still SL are favourites, England have to be backed here at 2.2
Current Position: SL -10pts / England +11.77pts / Draw -4pts
Update: England finish the day on 49-1 hopefully they can build on that tomorrow
Current Position: SL -10pts / England +10.79pts / Draw +2.01pts