In-form Wild value at 5-4 to silence Lam

Sports Betting: 

MICHAEL Wild will carry the hopes of the Oldham snooker fraternity into the International Championship which gets under way in the early hours of Sunday morning.

The Moorside professional, 6-0 conqueror of Judd Trump in the qualifiers, takes on Sanderson Lam of Leeds at 2.30am our time, so you will be able to check out the result while munching your cornflakes.

Wild is 500-1 to win the tournament and £125,000 first prize and you can’t blame the bookies for offering those odds, given a stellar field which includes world champion Stuart Bingham and previous Crucible heroes in Neil Robertson, Mark Selby and Shaun Murphy.

It will be tough for Wild, but he has a draw in which he could progress. Lam is 8-13 to win their match, but Wild is confident and playing well and the 5-4 on offer about a win for the Oldhamer is not to be sniffed at.

Harrow’s Martin Gould will probably await the winner in the last 32 and while he would start a hot favourite, Wild showed in his defeat of Trump that he will not be daunted by reputations.

Interestingly, Wild is in the same part of the draw as his former practice partner at Tara Leisure, Joe Swail. But Swail has a tough last-64 clash against Mark Allen and is 7-2 to progress.

Robertson is 6-1 favourite to win the whole shebang, followed by Selby (8-1), Ding Junhui (9-1), Murphy (12-1) and Bingham (16-1).



ENGLAND were more than a match for Pakistan in the first Test in Abu Dhabi, but the bookies expect the hosts to prevail in the second fixture of the series in Dubai tomorrow.

The return of leg spinner Yasir Shah is likely to be a big factor in Pakistan’s favour, but the toss will be all important to both sides as the Dubai pitch is likely to turn more sharply than the one in the

previous Test. Batting first is a must.

Pakistan are 11-8 favourites, with England 9-4 and the draw 23-10. I can’t really argue with those odds, so it’s a no-bet Test for me.



NEW Zealand were awesome in their Rugby World Cup distruction of France and are now a best-priced 8-13 to lift the Webb Ellis Trophy.

They take on South Africa on Saturday and are 2-7 to progress to the final.

The other semi-final sees Australia play surprise packets Argentina. The Wallabies are 31-10 to win the tournament and 4-9 to beat the Argentinians.

Argentina are available at 16-1 to become world champions with South Africa 8-1.