Coral’s New Year specials: Catch these cracking cricket odds
Published:
Sam Barnard, Assistant Sports Editor | December 30, 2015
England have finished 2015 on a high, after just convincingly claiming the first Test against world number one-ranked side South Africa, while other notable successes have been winning the Ashes as well as ODI and T20 series’ against Pakistan.
With such an exciting and youthful team, 2016 promises more for Alastair Cook, Eoin Morgan and co and, in celebration of the New Year, Coral pick out five sensational specials to take a punt on…
Eoin Morgan is top England 2016 T20 World Cup tournament batsman
ODI and Twenty20 England captain Morgan is the 7/2 joint-third favourite to get the most runs for his team at the international tournament that takes pace from March 8th–April 3rd in India.
But, those odds are highly surprising given that the Irishman scored more than any other from his side in 2015, with 138 in four innings, beating the likes of Joe Root, Alex Hales and James Vince. So, snap up these odds while you can.
Joe Root is top England Test run scorer in 2016
While Morgan lead the way for England in the shortest form of the game in 2015, Root was top in Tests and second in the world only behind Australian rivals Steve Smith.
The young Yorkshireman hit a whopping 1385 runs in 26 innings, ahead of his captain Cook, at an average of 60.21 and a high score of 182 no out. Root is understandably the 11/8 favourite to get the most Test runs of 2016 too for his nation, starting from April 1st-December 31st.
Stuart Broad is top England Test wicket taker in 2016
Broad also came second in the world for the number of wickets taken in 2015 (56), narrowly missing out on Ravichandran Ashwin’s total of 62.
With 9/4 favourite James Anderson not getting any younger and prone to the odd injury, back Broad at a brilliant 5/2 to take the most dismissals in 2016 too – also from April 1st-December 31st.
Any England player to take an ODI hat-trick in 2016
Hat-tricks are a rare feat in the cricket, particularly in international Tests and T20s, but three were achieved in ODIs in 2015 and one by England’s Steven Finn at the ICC Cricket World Cup against Australia.
With 50-over duels against South Africa, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh scheduled in 2016, odds of 7/1 for any English player to take a hat-trick seem highly enticing.
Leicestershire to finish bottom of 2016 County Championship Division Two
It is fair to say that Leicestershire are the whipping boys of the County Championship, and have been for the last few years now, having finished rock bottom in each of the last three seasons.
In 2013 and 2014, meanwhile, they failed to record even a single win, and only claimed two last season, though still came last by a 35-point gap. Surely odds of 13/8 for them to finish bottom again in 2016 are almost giving punters money?
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Check out more from our cricket archive, as well as our other fantastic New Year specials from other sports!
