The summer is fading into autumn, and England’s final home Test of 2015 comes in the form of the fifth Ashes clash against Australia at the Oval. With a series victory already secured, all eyes will be on Alistair Cook’s side as they look to become the first England team to win a home Ashes series 4-1. Michael Clarke will lead Australia in his final Test, and for the skipper and a number of his teammates this is the last hurrah – the Baggy Greens will be looking to end a dire Ashes series on a positive note.
The golf season is also drawing slowly to a close with all four majors now gone, and the Wyndham Championship comes as a good chance for a number of players to pick up a winner’s cheque and the FedEx points that could prove vital with the battle for qualification for the FedEx Cup Playoffs hotting up.
The World Series of Darts continues with eight of the world’s best players plying their trade down under with the Sydney Darts Masters. The likes of Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen take on the cream of the local crop, which includes PDC mainstays Simon Whitlock and Paul Nicholson, in the quest to pick up another lucrative World Series win. Back in Britain, Leeds Rhinos’ Super League bid gathers momentum as they take on Hull FC on the back of a couple of impressive victories in the Super 8s. No bet is ever a dead cert, but there are some shrewd picks that can be made for good prices, such as the ones listed below.
- Ashes Fifth Test – Joe Root top batsman (5/1 at Bet365)
- Hull FC vs Leeds Rhinos – Leeds to win (4/9 at Bet365)
- Wyndham Championship – Martin Kaymer to place top 5 (7/1 at Coral)
- Sydney Darts Masters – Phil Taylor to win (5/2 at Coral)
Fifth Ashes Test – 20th to 24th August
It has been a glorious summer for England. Although the women are toiling in their Ashes series, the men have ensured a positive mood with a comprehensive series victory against Australia. After a disheartening defeat at Lords to level the series at 1-1, there were questions over whether the Australians would kick on and thrash England 4-1. Now Alistair Cook’s men arrive at the Oval to see if they can seal a victory by that exact scoreline and become the first England side to do so in a home Ashes. With James Anderson back to punish an Australia side flat out of confidence and under fire thanks to scathing media reports, Cook will be confident of toasting a fourth victory of the series on August 24th. Or, given how every Test so far has ended prematurely, probably well before that.
The Oval track could well prove to be a batman’s paradise if the rain stays away. Every innings in Surrey’s recent matches at the Oval has scored in the high 200s to low 300s and batsmen will be confident of hitting runs. Nobody from either side’s top order will be more confident than Joe Root, who is currently the series’ top run scorer, hitting 443 runs at an average of over 73. The Yorkshireman is only narrowly ahead of Australia’s Chris Rogers in the batting charts – being the top batsman in this Test, currently offered at 5/1 by Bet365, would almost certainly see him home.
- Joe Root top batsman – 5/1 at Bet365
Hull FC vs Leeds Rhinos – 21st August
Who can stop the Leeds Rhinos? Brain McDermott’s side will feel their place in the Grand Final is as good as secured after a 25-18 victory over Wigan Warriors saw them go four points clear at the top of the Super 8s table. With five games remaining, Leeds know it will only take a couple of victories to see them progress to the showpiece final, and after taking out close rivals Wigan a trip to Hull FC will not faze them at all.
Seventh place Hull will not be joining Leeds in the Grand Final, something they are explicitly aware of, but a 32-22 win over third place St Helens last week shows that Lee Radford’s side will not be a pushover. However, the Rhinos will be too strong for their opponents, and although the 4/9 offered by Bet365 is not particularly generous to the punter, it is worth taking. This may be the closest thing to a dead cert there is this week.
- Leeds to win – 4/9 at Bet365
Wyndham Championship – 20th to 23rd August
As the dust settles from the USPGA Championship, won so emphatically by Jason Day, a whole host of top players will head to Greensboro, North Carolina to compete in the 76th Wyndham Championship. The $972,000 purse the winner will take home is a draw, but so are the 500 FedEx points that could make or break a player’s race to make the much more lucrative FedEx Cup Playoffs. The headlines at Sedgefield CC, unsurprisingly, are mostly about former world number one Tiger Woods, who makes his first ever appearance at the PGA Tour’s sixth oldest tournament outside the majors. Lagging behind in 187th in the FedEx rankings, Woods desperately needs points to reach the top 125 and qualify for the Playoffs.
All eyes will therefore be on Woods, but a number of players will be looking to slip under the radar and secure a win vital to their own goals. Brooks Koepka, Hideki Matsuyama and Brandt Snedeker are amongst the favourites in a youthful field, but it may be one of the slightly more seasoned campaigners that steals the show. Martin Kaymer may be a two-time major winner, but the German missed four cuts in six tournaments between March and June this year, also struggling in the WGC Matchplay in a dire run of form. However, finishing tied 12th in the last two majors of the year, the British Open and the PGA Championship, could well be a sign that Kaymer is on the up once more. The 2014 US Open champion is 149th in the FedEx rankings but is just 89 points behind 125th place Charl Schwartzel and placing in the top five here would see him in the driving seat in the race for Playoff places. Coral are offering 7/1 on Kaymer doing just that so snap it up!
- Martin Kaymer to place top 5 – 7/1 at Coral
Sydney Darts Masters – 20th to 22nd August
The Darts World Series continues its tour Down Under with Phil Taylor, Michael van Gerwen, Gary Anderson, Raymond van Barneveld, James Wade, Peter Wright, Adrian Lewis and Stephen Bunting taking on Australian stars Simon Whitlock and Paul Nicholson, plus six local qualifiers, in the Sydney Masters. Van Gerwen won the first World Series event in Dubai, but since then it has been the Phil Taylor show, with the 16-time champion of the world beating Peter Wright in the Japan Masters final before seeing off James Wade in the final in Perth last week. The Sydney Masters begins with a titanic clash, as Lewis takes on Whitlock, and Dutchman Van Gerwen takes on PDC regular Paul Nicholson.
All eyes, however, will be on Taylor – and for good reason. The Stoke thrower has never been beaten in Australia since the World Series’ induction in 2013, winning back-to-back Sydney titles in 2013 and 2014. Given his already scintillating form, winning in Japan and picking up his second Perth title in a row, it is hard to see anyone but Taylor winning in Sydney. 5/2, offered by tournament sponsors Coral, is a very enticing price.
- Phil Taylor to win – 5/2 at Coral