England’s cricket team reached their third T20 World Cup final after beating India in scintillating fashion yesterday and their clash in Melbourne with Pakistan on Sunday will be one of the sporting highlights of the weekend.

Elsewhere over the past few days, there has been League Cup action where a host of big teams have been dumped out, a point illustrated by the fact that Charlton Athletic are the only London outfit to make it through to the last 16.

With a momentous weekend of sport ahead of us, we look back over the last few days to see where the big winning spreads occurred.

Please remember that unlike fixed odds betting, when spread betting losses can exceed deposits.

ENGLAND v INDIA – ENGLAND 1^st WICKET PARTNERSHIP (SETTLED AT 170)

After meandering for most of their innings in the second of the World Cup semi-finals, India finally put their foot down to reach a score of 168 yesterday, which was a defendable total, but not as big as it perhaps could or should have been.

On Wednesday, Pakistan’s opening pair of Babar Azam and Mohammed Rizwan showed how important a platform the openers can bring when they play well and the gauntlet was thrown down to Jos Buttler and Alex Hales to repeat the trick for England.

At the end of the India innings, the England 1^st Wicket spread was set at 32-37, but in a consummate display of power-hitting, buyers were in the green in double quick time. India were poor in the field and their bowling should have been better, but Hales and Buttler were in electric form as they hit a match-winning 170 between them, with 13 fours and ten sixes.

England advance to Melbourne where they will play Pakistan in the final and buyers on the England 1^st Wicket spread were left counting a win of 143x their stake.

MANCHESTER UNITED v ASTON VILLA – TOTAL GOAL MINUTES (SETTLED AT 393)

Having been beaten by Aston Villa in the Midlands last weekend, Manchester United were out for League Cup revenge last night at Old Trafford.

A dire first half which finished 0-0 was followed by a second 45 that was an absolute riot. Unai Emery’s side twice hit the front through Ollie Watkins and a Diogo Dalot own goal but were quickly pegged back on both occasions by Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford.

The stage was set for a hero and young substitute Alejandro Garnacho further enhanced his burgeoning reputation with assists for Bruno Fernandes and Scott McTominay and the hosts made it through to the last 16.

With all six goals coming in the second half, this was a night for buyers on the Total Goal Minutes spread at 135-145. This spread settled at 393 as buyers won 248x their stake.

MUNSTER v SOUTH AFRICA A – MUN/SA SUPREMACY (SETTLED AT 14)

It was an historic night last night for Munster in more ways than one as the first ever rugby match at Cork GAA’s Pairc Ui Chaoimh resulted in a first ever win for The Red Army over a touring South Africa side.

A record-high crowd for a rugby match in Munster crammed in to see South Africa A (with 14 players who had full Springbok caps to their name) take on a Munster side who were missing 20 players through international call-ups and injuries.

Munster were underdogs on the Supremacy which was set at -8 - -5, but they raced into a 21-7 half time lead thanks to tries from Shane Daly, Simon Zebo, and Diarmuid Barron. A Mike Haley try put the Irish side further in front just after the break, with a converted Sikhumbuzo Notshe try the only score from South Africa in the second half.

The full-time score was 28-14 and Munster’s 14-point winning margin saw buyers at -5 win 19x their stake on the Supremacy market.

Please note that these are examples of winning bets from the past week, and it is important to remember that spread betting carries a high level of risk to your capital and can result in losses larger than your initial stake/deposit.