Big winning bets on Thursday's football, cricket & snooker

Did Leicester make it into the Europa League knockouts?

All too familiar defensive lapses costs Leicester as they went down 3-2 at Napoli to finish third in their Europa League group and drop into the Europa Conference League, a competition manager Brendan Rodgers admits he doesn’t know anything about. In a dramatic finale, as the final whistle went in Naples, a penalty in Warsaw, where Legia were playing Spartak Moscow, could have saved them, but Legia missed the spot kick, Spartak finished top and Leicester third, behind Napoli. The Foxes fell behind to Adam Ounas’s early goal and were soon two down, as Eljif Elmas tapped home. Jonny Evans and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall got Leicester back on terms at the break but Elmas scored again early in the second half and Rodgers’ team couldn’t come back again.

Goal Rush (settled at 70)

Leicester last kept a clean sheet on the opening day of the Premier League season, so goals were expected even if free scoring Napoli were missing key players through injury. The Goal Rush market awards points depending on how many goals are scored in the game – 10 points for one goal, 20 for two, 33 for three, 50 for four, 70 for five and 100 for six or more. The spread last night was set at 36-39, so buyers made a profit of 31 times their stake.

Can England save the 1^st Ashes Test?

Joe Root and Dawid Malan showed great application and determination to bat England back into the game on Day 3 of the 1^st Ashes Test. Having seen the Aussies extend their overnight 343-7 to 425 all out for a 278-run lead – Travis Head last man out for 152 – England’s openers  did their best to fend off the new ball but ultimately fell cheaply, Burns for 13 and Hameed for 27. Malan and Root had to survive a few scrapes but the longer they hung around, the easier batting became, and by the close they’d guided England to 220-2, 56 behind with eight wickets in hand. Root is 86no, breaking the Michael Vaughan’s record for most England runs in a calendar year along the way, with Malan unbeaten on 80.

Travis Head 50 Ups (settled at 102)

Coming into this series, England had plenty of Aussie batsmen to worry about – Warner, Smith and Labuschagne predominantly. They weren’t even sure if they’d face Travis Head or Usman Khawaja but after his better then a run a ball 152 here, they can be sure they’ll be seeing a lot more of Head. The 50 Ups market awards a point for every run over 50 a batsman scores. Head’s spread was 8-11, so buyers who fancied Head to get a big score and bought at 11 enjoyed a profit of 91 times their bet.

Are all the big guns still in the Scottish Open snooker?

It was a day of shocks yesterday as both Mark Selby and Judd Trump, the world’s top two ranked players, both lost their last 16 matches, while Ronnie O’Sullivan almost joined them, before winning a final frame decider. Both Selby and Trump fell 3-0 down, got back to 3-3 before losing their deciders against Anthony McGill and David Gilbert respectively. Ronnie took his place in the last 8 by beating Jamie Jones 4-3.

Points Supremacy Trump/Gilbert (settled at -47)

Unsurprisingly, Trump went into this as the big favourite, but these best-of-seven frame matches can thrown up surprises. It’s difficult to come back once you fall behind, although that didn’t seem to be the problem for Trump, who rebounded from losing the first three frames to level and force a decider, though he then went on to lose that. Trump’s point supremacy spread going into the game was 105-135, meaning he was expected to score that many more points than Gilbert. As played, underdog Gilbert actually scored 47 more than Trump, meaning sellers at 105 made 152 times their bet.