Five reasons why England can regain the Ashes this summer

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Despite being whitewashed in Australia, England are just 3.35 on Betfair to regain the Ashes. The reason for the rather short price, beyond patriotic punting, is that Australia have lost some big names while Andrew Strauss’ men are much harder to beat at home. Here are five reasons to be optimistic:

1. Since Australia last won the Ashes away from home in 2001, England have contested 15 home series. Of those they have won ten, drawn three and lost just two, boasting an aggregate test score of 30-8.

2. That contrasts with England’s poor form prior to Australia’s last win here in 2001. Ahead of that, England had won just six of the last 15 series they had hosted and had a negative aggregate test score of 18-20.

3. Prior to the last six Ashes series, Australia had won at least four of their previous five test series. This year they arrive in nowhere near as convincing

Posted: July 1st, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | 1 Comment

It should be a thrilling day of quarter-finals at Wimbledon

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There were no surprises yesterday as the top four women’s seeds reached the semis (we thought Azarenka might pull off a shock before remembering she was facing a Williams sister at Wimbledon). The men’s quarter-final draw couldn’t be better though: Federer v Karlovic sees the enduring grass master face the in-form King of Aces, Djokovic v Haas is a repeat of the Halle final, Roddick v Hewitt sees two of the decade’s finest grass court players handed another chance to shine and then there’s Murray v Ferrero, the weakest of the line-up but with huge public interest. Here are three stats on each match:

Tommy Haas (24) v Novak Djokovic (4)
» Djokovic has a 2-1 head-to-head record with Haas but the German beat him in the final at Halle on grass last month.
» This is the furthest Haas has ever got at Wimbledon, continuing a trend where each of the last seven Halle winners have reached the last eight. He has reached three Grand Slam semis but all in Australia.
» Djokovic has won 13 of his last 15 quarter-finals and has reached the last four of six of the last seven tournaments he’s entered.

Lleyton Hewitt v Andy Roddick (6)
» Both men have won 27 career titles, reached four Grand Slam finals and won at Queen’s four times. Therefore it’s no surprise that they are almost inseparable head-to-head, with Hewitt holding a 6-5 advantage.
» Roddick has the advantage on grass though having won their two previous

Posted: July 1st, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Victoria Azarenka is capable of shocking Serena Williams

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It’s ladies day today at Wimbledon as all four women’s quarter-finals take place. Here are three stats about each encounter:

Dinara Safina (1) v Sabine Lisicki
» The pair have only met once before, with Lisicki beating Safina in three sets at last year’s Australian Open.
» The bad news for the German is that only one unseeded woman has reached the last four in the last eight years - Jie Zheng last year.
» The world number one has won eight of her last nine quarter-final matches.

Victoria Azarenka (8) v Serena Williams (2)
» Serena holds the 2-1 head-to-head advantage but Azarenka has shown she can hang with the ten-time Grand Slam champion this year.
» At the Australian Open she won the first set before retiring in the second

Posted: June 30th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Five stats about tonight’s Euro Under-21 Championship Final

Germany/England, 7.45pm, Sky Sports 1, Best Odds, Free Bets

Stuart Pearce is the 4/1 favourite to succeed Fabio Capello as England manager and tonight he can prove his credentials by guiding the Young Lions to their first trophy since 1984. To do so he will have to conquer Germany, who were a thorn in Psycho’s side throughout his playing career. However, at Under-21 level, England have a much better record against them:

1. There have been three occasions under the current format where two teams from the same group have met in the final and on two of those, the side who came second - in this case Germany - triumphed.

2. Germany have never previously won the competition but have - either as East or West - lost in the final four times, including a 1974 defeat to Hungary when it was still an Under-23 competition.

Posted: June 29th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Stanislas Wawrinka may face more round of 16 heartache

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After a Wimbledon-less Sunday, things get very exciting today as every single man and woman left in the single’s tournaments will be in action. Here are three stats about each of what we consider today’s four main matches:

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Andy Murray v Stanislas Wawrinka
» Murray has a 4-3 head-to-head record against Wawrinka and has won four of their last five clashes. They have never met on grass.
» The world number three has won all three of the duo’s meetings at the round of 16. Wawrinka has exited five of his last eight tournaments at that stage, with four of those losses coming against players ranked in the top five.
» The Swiss 24-year-old hasn’t reached the last eight of a Grand Slam in 17 career attempts, whereas Murray has done so in three of his last four.

Robin Soderling v Roger Federer
» Soderling and Federer have met ten times and the world number two has

Posted: June 29th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Five stats to help you bet on the Confederations Cup Final

USA/Brazil, Sunday 7.30pm, BBC Three, Best Odds, Free Bets

The reaction of the American media to their national side ending Spain’s 35-game unbeaten streak may have been unbearable but it would have been just as bad - if not worse - over here if England had done it. The USA have brought excitement to this pretty meaningless tournament over the past week and after watching Brazil stumble past South Africa last night in the other semi-final, they will fancy their chances of winning it. The bookies don’t though and some of the trends make it easy to see why:

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1. Brazil have won 14 of their 15 matches against USA (one after extra-time). The USA’s one win over the holders came in the 1998 Gold Cup Final, with former Everton winger Predrag “Preki” Radosavljevic scoring the winner.

2. USA haven’t scored against Brazil in three previous Confederations Cup meetings, with Dunga’s side beating them 1-0 in 1999 and 2003 and winning 3-0 against them last Thursday.

Posted: June 26th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment