DURBAN - The Youth Day long weekend was a treat. Well, if you had listened to the bones it was, and Sunday’s game out of London town would have pleased you. Pakistan played out their boots as “Shaba’s rank” outsiders in a top 8 tournament at the price of 20/1.
Oh, how our dear Proteas are in the dwang nowadays. First it was the Champions Trophy and now it’s back to the England tour.
It all started with a poor show in the ODI series and now we’re staring at a T20 loss, but good old Charlie, the cricket lover, will tell you it’s all about the Tests.
I can tell you that the Test series will follow as a loss, or draw at best. ON Friday night the Proteas need to turn it around, otherwise fear the worst. Beware of the whitewash.
Talking about whitewashing, let’s talk Boks. They are up to it against France, which is commendable.
The game looks better and with more game breakers coming to the fore and a couple youngsters being considered, we could be building up lekker for 2019 in Tokyo. South Africa are 2/10 and France are 9/2.
The handicap is 13 points. Go for green and gold on the spread.
The British and Irish Lions have peaked at the perfect time and Warren Gatland has chosen to go with form players in the 23-man first Test line-up.
It has justifiably altered over the past two weeks after victory over the Crusaders and the Maoris. Some midweek madmen played their way into starts, including a new skipper, who wasn’t even starting for Ireland in their record stop-show of England.
It shows where persistence and some luck will get you. Peter O’Mahony will have to bring the thunder and some Irish luck to Eden Park to get up in game one if they are to make a series out of it. Game two in Wellington may be a shutout if the All Blacks win this weekend.
The atmosphere in Auckland is immense and bars will be running dry in the midst of a red sea. Let’s hope the players can bring that passion tomorrow. Lions are 33/10, which is worth a squint, while the All Blacks are 3/10 with a point spread of 10 Points. If you’re going Red, this is your best go at it, but if you’re Black then go in with 1/1 on a 20-point margin.
The Confed Cup in the mighty land of Putin looks an entertaining prospect and could produce a name of interest for the transfer windows. Look for a sneaky upset here along the way with possible tournament winners in Chile, who are joint favourites with Portugal at 9/4.
As you know, the bones like the juice, so look into Mexico with a sauce of 7/1 at the minute, and couple it with your Wimbledon favourite, or just put on a pound and go play around.
A shout out to Brooks Koepka and a first Major of many. Tennis grass court season is on the go and many an upset this week with Andy, Stan and others being knocked out.