Cricket World Cup Semi-Finals Betting: Five things to look out for

Posted December 23, 2019

A wicket-keeper batsman getting better and better from the match, England’s crucial under-the-radar bowler and injury issues in the Australian camp create Jamie Pacheco’s list of things to keep an eye out for in the semis…

Glove guy could be the dangerman of Australia
It hasn’t been great tournament for wicket-keeper batsmen from the perspective of runs. Quinton de Kock did fine but his performances were a far cry from the prolific run-getter of the last few decades, Jos Buttler looks strangely from form and low on confidence and also the great MS Dhoni has made more headlines for his slow, conservative and unadventurous innings compared to swashbuckling ones of old. Even his concern was voiced by the great Sachin Tendulkar.

So the wicket-keeper batsmen community could at least be proud of the efforts of Alex Carey. His three fifties from nine innings may not seem like something to write home about but they will need to be put into context. He has almost always been asked to come in at seven and that’s either to perform a rescue act (New Zealand, West Indies), to get them on the line at a challenging chase (South Africa) or to score fast after a fantastic start. Whatever was needed off himhe always did it.

With 329 runs he is the group’s third greatest scorer following David Warner and Aaron Finch. With Usman Khawaja fighting with a hamstring injury and Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis (himself struggling with trauma ) short of conducts, it would be no surprise to see Carey come in one or two places higher than usual on Thursday. You’ll see much worse stakes than the 10/1 about him high scoring for Australia from England when the semis come about.

Jadeja-come-lately
In a effort so far packed with away the-cuff selection choices by the Indian direction, it’d not be a surprise if the latest was that Ravindra Jadeja got a match in the semi-final.

He played the first time that tournament against Sri Lanka, in place of Yuzvendra Chahal, who had been expensive against England. Jadeja bowled 10 overs for only 40 runs, claimed the big wicket of Kusal Mendis, took a catch to dismiss the well-set HDRL Thrimanne, but wasn’t required to bat.

He could well keep his position in the team now with any of Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav or Mohammad Shami missing out. There’s another reason why the Indian management could stick . Or two, rather. Perhaps only Virat Kohli is as good a fielder as him in the side and his existence in the team solves their problem in number eight.

Jadeja’s three-dimensional skills may provide India with a sort of safety valve. A competition from New Zealand in 16/1? Zealand’s opening partnership was a disaster. Colin Munro was so poor he had been dropped two games ago and his replacement Henry Nicholls has not fared much better. Martin Guptill’s career numbers are very impressive but not so at this World Cup: just one fifty in eight innings tells its own story.

It is all in stark contrast to India’s where the two openers got tonnes against Sri Lanka on Saturday. Rohit Sharma has 647 runs, including five decades. KL Rahul has 360 runs including a century and two fifties and this despite the fact he has only opened in India’s last few matches.

It goes a long way to explaining why India are so brief at 4/11 to win the match when they face New Zealand. And why it is only 8/13 which India have the maximum opening partnership.

A roar could be made by england’s silent man
Liam Plunkett is among the less fussy and less flashy players who will be playing at the semis but do not underestimate his importance.

Strangely dropped for four games despite not having done much wrong, he returned to the side when England were drinking at last-chance saloon, taking three wickets against India and one against New Zealand. And look at the market rate: 5.5 in a high-scoring game against India and only 3.5 contrary to the Kiwis.

In a group filled with big characters, outspoken characters and gamers filled with’Hollywood’ abilities, this quiet character who just gets on with it’s as important as any of them. He’s 7/2 to be England’s best bowler against Australia.

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