Morgan commits to Middlesex

Middlesex County Cricket Club (13/2 to win County Championship Division One 2013 with bet365) have received a massive boost with the news that Eoin Morgan has agreed a new long-term contract with the club.

The 26-year-old England batsman is an established international in the one-day and Twenty20 side and has been part of the Middlesex set-up at Lord’s for close to a decade.

Morgan, who has battled himself into the reckoning for the England Test side and is part of the squad currently touring India (England 4/1 to win Test series with bet365), was awarded an ECB central contract for 2013 and also plays for Indian Premier League for reigning champions Kolkata Knight Riders.

Now established as one of the best batsmen in the world, he offers a huge boost to Middlesex whenever he is available to them and the club are understandably delighted he has put pen-to-paper on the new deal.

Middlesex’s chief executive Vinny Codrington said: “With the exceptional talent he possesses Eoin is quite rightly regarded as one of the most gifted batsmen in world cricket today, and we are delighted that we can continue to call upon his services whenever he is available to us here at Middlesex.”

Morgan’s agreement to a new contract comes closely on the heels of Middlesex announcing that Chris Rogers will continue to captain them in the County Championship next season – they finished third in Division One last season.

Kiwis won’t get in a spin

New Zealand skipper Ross Taylor is confident that his batsmen will be able to deal with the threat of Pakistan’s spinners in Sunday’s World Twenty20 contest (New Zealand 13/10, Pakistan 8/13 Match Prices with bet365).

The Kiwis kicked off their campaign with a crushing victory over Bangladesh, with star batsman Brendon McCullum hitting an amazing 123.

The Asians got nowhere near their target and the Black Caps are in an excellent position to make the Super Eights even if they lose this weekend (New Zealand 3/1 Semi-Final Stage of Elimination with bet365).

And they are certain to find the 2009 winners a much tougher nut to crack as Mohammad Hafeez appears to have a side tailor-made for the shortest version of the game.

While they possess a number of decent strikers of the ball, it is in the bowling department that Pakistan excel with the likes of Umar Gul and spinners Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Afridi and Hafeez himself.

All three are masters of bowling in sub-continental conditions and have the ability to take clusters of wickets, while rarely being hammered around the park.

But New Zealand have shown that they are no mugs in the 20-over format and it has all the makings of a classic encounter in Pallekele.

Taylor is aware of the class of the opposition spinners on Sunday but feels the fact that they have already had a run-out in the competition should stand his charges in good stead.

“Hafeez and Ajmal have got very good records in the last 12-18 months,” he said. “We have had an insight into the wicket and the confidence from the way we played on Friday, we’ll hopefully take that also.

“We have prepared really well and I am sure we’ll do the same against Pakistan.”

Wright buoyed by England start

England batsman Luke Wright (2/5 World Cup top England batsman – bet365) believes there is still plenty more to come from his side after they made a strong start to their Twenty20 World Cup title defence.

The Sussex all-rounder was instrumental in helping the defending champions avoid a potential banana skin in their opening game of tournament in Sri Lanka, with an unbeaten 99 from just 55 balls helping England to a victory over Afghanistan.

Wright and England are next in action on Sunday when they take on one of the tournament favourites India, in what will be a much stiffer test than the one posed by Afghanistan on Friday (England 11/10, India 8/11 Match Betting – bet365).

Having shone in his side’s opening game, Wright was delighted with the victory and has insisted there is plenty more to come from England.

He said: “I think with a performance like that it shows we are a dangerous side.

“Naturally, the sub-continent sides are always going to be favourites in these conditions.

“But we’ve worked very hard on facing spinners, and we’re quietly confident in the changing room.”

With Afghanistan losing their two group games, England go into their match with India knowing they are through to the Super Eight stage of the World Cup.

Odds stacked in USA favour

USA have one hand on the Presidents Cup after taking the honours on day three to extend their lead to four points going into the singles on Sunday, and have now been shortened to 1/9 in the outright betting with the International Team available at 7/1 to turn the form around and the tie at 16/1.

Fred Couples’ team dominated the opening foursomes on Saturday, winning four of the fives games which included a first point of the tournament for Tiger Woods.

The Internationals’ fight-back in the afternoon fourballs, three wins to two, was seemingly not enough to alter the betting view that the Americans will win, with the holders taking a 13-9 lead into Sunday’s singles.

Jim Furyk has been the star of the show for the USA, winning four out of four matches so far – three were with Phil Mickelson although ‘Lefty’ was omitted from Saturday’s fourballs.

Furyk is priced at 4/5 to maintain his 100 percent record in the singles when he takes on Ernie Els (Evens) and become just the fourth player in Presidents Cup history to win all five of his matches, with Couples looking for his veterans to lead the side home in the later matches.

The odds are stacked against Greg Norman’s side going into the final day as no side has ever overturned such a deficit to lift the trophy.

Couples splits Woods and Stricker

USA captain Fred Couples has revealed that he always intended splitting Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker for Friday’s fourballs (Woods/Johnson 23/20, Baddeley/Day 5/4 Tie 5/1 with bet365), even though they suffered a cup record-equalling 7&6 defeat on day one.

Woods and Stricker may well have been thrashed by Adam Scott, caddied of course by Steve Williams, and KJ Choi but it was the only defeat suffered on the first day by the USA, who are now 8/13 favourites with bet365 to win the trophy.

Woods and Stricker had won all four of their matches together two years ago, while they also enjoyed a successful Ryder Cup pairing with two wins and one defeat, but have now been separated for Friday’s action.

Woods will now partner Dustin Johnson, while Stricker will be alongside Matt Kuchar as the Americans look to extend their 4-2 advantage.

Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson, Phil Mickelson and Jim Furyk, Bill Haas and Nick Watney, and Hunter Mahan and David Toms have all been kept together for Friday’s action.

Couples admitted that his side was ‘lucky’ to have a two-point cushion going into the second day but said he had already made up his mind to split Woods and Stricker, saying “we were going to do that on Tuesday and Wednesday”.

The second day’s play has been brought forward because of the threat of thunderstorms, with the first match scheduled to tee off at 22:45 GMT.

Lefty wary of Aussie threat

Phil Mickelson insists he is looking forward to the challenge of facing a strong International team at the Presidents Cup as the sides prepare to do battle in Melbourne (USA and Internationals Evens, tie 14/1 Presidents Cup Outright with bet365).

The 41-year-old is a stalwart of the event, having played in every Presidents Cup match since the competition’s inception back in 1994, and will take his place in an American side that looks to have the edge on paper (Mickelson 15/2 Top USA Points Scorer with bet365).

The stars of the PGA Tour have dominated the event over the years, winning the Presidents Cup on six occasions, while losing only once with one tie in 2003.

However that one defeat came at this week’s Royal Melbourne venue back in 1998, with the International stars cruising to victory on that occasion, and Mickelson knows they will have to be at their very best to walk away with the trophy this time around.

“We have done pretty well in this competition, and we have been able to do okay at home and away, but the only time we have lost at all is right here in Royal Melbourne,” Mickelson said.

“It’s a real challenge for us to play here, because we are playing such a strong team, the International Team has a lot of great players, a lot of great Australian players.”

USA captain Fred Couples will have a rejuvenated Tiger Woods in his ranks but is unlikely to pair the former world number one with Mickelson, as the duo have failed to gel on previous occasions at the Ryder Cup.