December 16th – Weekend Review and Cricket Preview
We had good results on the golf over the weekend with the Big 6 rarely in danger at the Australian PGA Championship. Robert Allenby started the tournament with 2 bogeys in the first 2 holes then played really solid golf for the rest of the round and the following 3 days to dominated the resort course winning by 4 shots. Coming into the final day we had many of our top 6 in contention and I was supremely confident.
For those who followed the tips for the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek you had the opportunity to back and lay everyone of the suggested golfers and make a profit. Charl Schwartzel was the highest placed of the 4 with a runner-up finish and it should have been win had he not made 2 ridiculous errors on the final day costing him valuable shots. For the rest of the day he was flawless and I am amazed he didn’t win. We have now followed him for a number of years and he is really proving a gold mine for us. Of our other selections Robert Rock was at $70 at the start of the tournament and finished 4th. Rafael Cabrera-Bello looked on song in the 1st and 2nd rounds but just couldn’t keep it going (He was a bit erratic). Ernie Els was running 2nd coming into the final day but had terrible trouble with every part of his game. It was a day to forget for him .
In our cricket bet I was amazed that Daniel Vettori (who I rate very highly as a player and captain) went very defensive in the 2nd innings I guess in a move to limit any runs he would have to chase on the final day. What resulted was Pakistan given an easy time batting within themselves before the Kiwis came back late on the final day to set up a thrilling finish. In the end they needed 210 off 41 overs and got off to a flying start at 0 for 90 off 18 before rain finished the test off. I have no doubt had the rain not arrived they would have won the test and that is definitely one that got away.
In the cricket today Australia take on the West Indies for the 3rd and final test. The Adelaide draw will have fired up an Australian side who won’t treat the Windies as lightly this time round. The Perth pitch would have suited both sides with the curator suggesting it is getting back towards its old form of hard and fast. I was very keen to jump on board the Aussies again until the injuries came in. Australia have lost Peter Siddle (To go along with losing Ben Hilfenhaus before the 2nd test) and instead of bringing in an experienced paceman to help the erratic Mitchell Johnson and the inexperienced Doug Bollinger they have gone for the rookie Clint McKay. While I think McKay has a lot of talent and this pitch is a great place for a paceman to debut I really feel Stuart Clark was the smarter option. Add to that Nathan Hauritz who has been very up and down in recent test and has injured his bowling finger. The Aussie selectors have gone with 20 year old future start Steve Smith who’s leg spin is a long way off being good and it will be an interesting debut should he make it. This line up gives me no confidence of Australia getting the 20 wickets required to win. The only positive for Australia is that the Windies have their own injury concerns with Shiv Chanderpaul and Adrian Barath unlikely to take their place in the Windies batting line up which is a huge loss.
The $1.40 is way too skinny and I am tempted to lay them at that price and look to back them later on at a higher price ($1.80 – $2.00). This is very probable as if the Windies win the toss they will like batting on the fast surface and could set a decent score. Also if they bowl first future star Kemar Roach will trouble the Aussie batsmen.
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