Are England still on course for T20 World Cup glory?

The dream is over for England after they lost by five wickets to New Zealand in the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup yesterday. In an amazing match which England looked to be in control for the most part, allrounder Jimmy Neesham’s cameo innings swung it towards the Black Caps and opener Daryl Mitchell, who finished 72no, completed the job. New Zealand needed 57 from 24 balls when Neesham whacked Chris Jordan for two sixes in an over costing 23. He sent Adil Rashid into the crowd in the next over, and despite being caught at extra cover off the final ball of the 18^th over, his 27 from 11 balls put New Zealand in control.

Launch! (settled at 1656)

With two top sides in fine form there was always the possibility of some fireworks, and Jimmy Neesham provided those late in he Black Caps’ innings. The Launch! market is made up by multiplying the top scoring over by the individual top score, and New Zealand provided both perfectly. Neesham’s 23 off that Jordan over provided the fireworks, and opener Mitchell’s steady batting gave us a top score of 72. The Launch! spread was 1325-1425 before the game, and settled at 23x72, 1656, meaning buyers won 231 times their bet.

Is Andy Murray still in the Stockholm Open?

Andy Murray knocked out top seed Jannik Sinner at the Stockholm Open yesterday in what he called probably his best win of the season. After his 7-6 6-3 defeat of the world number 10, Murray now faces Taylor Paul for a place in the semi-finals. This is only the second top 10 player the former world number 1 has beaten since his comeback from two hip surgeries – Hubert Hurkacz in Vienna last month being the other – and only his second quarter-final on the ATP Tour this year. Fellow Brit Dan Evans is also in the last 8 after beating Spain's Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 7-6 6-2.

Match Superiority Mur/Sin (settled at 20)

Murray has shown flashes of getting back to his best, and against 20-year-old Sinner for the first time, we had a few nibbles on various markets backing the Scot. One of the most popular was buying Murray’s games at 10.9 as we said in yesterday’s blog, and those punters will be happy with the Scot’s 13 games. The Match Superiority market awards 10 points to the winner and 5 points per set won by, and pre-match it was Sinner who was favourite with a Sin/Mur Match Superiority spread of 6.5-9.5. Murray’s straight sets victory meant a maximum profit of 26.5 times their bet for sellers of Sinner’s superiority.

Who impressed in yesterday’s horse racing action?

Brendan Powell was the star of the show at yesterday’s meeting at Exeter, riding a hat-trick of winners from only four rides. He piloted Colin Tizzard’s Jpr One home in the 1.10 for a 12/1 winner, adding 11/2 Striking a Pose in the 2.40 and 9/4F Shiroccos Dream in the last for a fine day’s work.

Brendan Powell Super Mega Jockey Performance (settled at 150)

This market awards 25 points per race won (with 10 points for 2^nd and 5 for 3^rd) and doubles the points for any second win and trebles those for a third. Powell’s three winners therefore was music to the ears of those who bought his SM spread of 23.5-25.5. Buyers made a profit of 124.5 times their bet as the son of the 1988 Grand National winning jockey showed he’s a chip off the old block.