In this daily column we take a look at some of the sporting and betting highlights taking place on Thursday and suggest a few bets.
CRICKET WORLD CUP 2019
The Cricket World Cup gets going later today and the Proteas are straight into action against England at the Kennington Oval. There is no doubt that the Proteas have it all to do in this opening fixture and you can read our betting preview here where Faf du Plessis is our fancy for top South African batsman at a current price of 4/1. We also like Woakes to be the top England bowler at 7/2.
You can bet in running during the match and to view all markets for England v South Africa click here and for all of our World Cup betting markets click here.
FRENCH OPEN TENNIS
A number of big guns are in action at Roland Garros tomorrow with Dominic Thiem as short as 1/50 to see off his opponent Alexander Bublik and Novak Djokovic is an even shorter price at 1/100 to progress to the next round. There isn’t a lot that stands out for us at first glance but matches will also be traded in running so keep an eye on the World Sports Betting Website and if you do want to browse all of the odds then click here for French Open Betting.
CYCLING Giro d’ Italia
The Giro d’Italia is nearing conclusion and there has certainly been plenty of betting movement since the race began. Long-time favourite Primoz Roglic is now out to 14/1 to win the race and Movistar’s Richard Carapaz is the 1/4 favourite having looked the business so far. Thursdays stage is a lengthy 220 kilometres and while there isn’t much in the way of climbs, it is not going to be easy for the sprinters teams to bring things back together as many of the top sprinters have already left the race and there are plenty of tired legs in the peloton. When all is said and done we expect this to come down to a sprint finish and Arnaud Demare the current points leader is our pick for the win at a price of 17/10 – click here for Giro d’Italia betting.
GOLF – BELGIAN KNOCKOUT AND MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT
The European Tour stages the second renewal of the Belgian Knock Out, a unique event which format is best viewed on the European Tour website. This looks something of a lottery and the betting is wide open with Thomas Pieters the favourite at 20/1. I suggest that each way play this bet is Matthias Schwab 40/1 win and 8/1 a place. Schwab has been running into good form of late with two Top 10 finishes in his last 4 starts and he went well in this unique format last year, finishing inside the Top 30. Click here to bet on the Belgium Knockout
Tiger Woods makes his return to action in the Memorial Tournament and he is a 14/1 second favourite behind Rory McIlroy who trades at 9/1 at the time of writing. We expect an improved showing from Tiger after his missed cut in the PGA Championships, but there are two bets we fancy this week, namely Matt Kuchar each way at 20/1 and Byeong-hun An each way at 80/1. An has some very good course form and was runner-up last year while Kuchar is a past Champion and is incredibly consistent at the Muirfield Village Golf Club – click here to bet on the Memorial Tournament.
There is plenty of sport to come over the weekend so don’t miss our Friday Blog which will include Super Rugby bets.