England v Pakistan
4th ODI Cricket – 12.30 pm
Sky Sports
England have produced some fine form in the ODI series against Pakistan. After a no result in their first scheduled match, England have gone on to win the following two. The first of those successes was a 12 run victory by the hosts in Southampton. Then they cut loose at Bristol in the third match. England backers will see plenty of best bets of the day on them.
Pakistan had put a good score of 358 on the board after opening the batting. Their score was helped by a career-best by Imam el Huq of 151. It should have been more, but England did a great job of reining them in over the last half a dozen overs. They stifled their attack. Still, that was a big total to chase down, but England made it look ever so easy. England won by six wickets.
Their top scorer was Jonny Bairstow who fired off 128 from just 93 balls. All England’s batsmen who came to the crease, put in significant scores. Pakistan were looking a depleted side at the end of that match and are 11/5 underdogs to produce a win at Trent Bridge on Friday. Leading bookmakers have England at 4/11 odds-on. That performance at Bristol was special, again confirming that England are the favourites for this summer’s World Cup.
Charlton v Doncaster
League One Play-Off Semi-Final – 7.45 pm
Sky Sports
Charlton hold an advantage in this League One playoff semi-final. They paid a visit to the Keepmoat for the first leg and came away with a 2-1 success against Doncaster. It could have been better for them after having put both of their goals on the board in the first half of the match. However, the Addicks conceded a goal three minutes from time. You wonder how important that one is going to be.
It was a late goal that just about keeps Doncaster in the tie. However, they are going to have to defy 7/2 underdog odds to pull through to the play-off final. During the regular season, Charlton produced a magnificent home record of W16 D5 L2. They have won their last six games at The Valley. That’s what Doncaster are up against. Charlton are 10/11 odds-on with top bookmakers to win at home on Friday to seal the deal.
But Doncaster may be able to take some hope from their 2-0 win there in the FA Cup back in December. The winner of this tie will face either Portsmouth or Sunderland in the League One Play-Off Final on May 26th.
Dundee United v Inverness
Scottish Championship Play Off Semi Final – 7.45 pm
Sky Sports
This is the second leg of this playoff tie to try and earn a place in the Premiership next season. There is still everything to play for. Dundee United will be defending an advantage that they hold. They picked up a 1-0 away win in the first leg which means that they are ahead in the tie, plus are heading home for the second leg. The top bookmakers support their favouritism as well. The Tangerines as 8/11 favourites to pick up the victory.
Dundee United finished second in the table at the end of the regular Championship season, nine points clear of third-placed Inverness. Despite that huge gulf in points earned, surprisingly the two clubs finished with almost identical records in the goals for and goals against stats. They both conceded exactly 40 goals. The only difference was that Dundee United scored 49 goals to Inverness’s 48.
So this was always likely to be a tight scrap. This will be the eleventh game between them this season. The head to head from those is in Dundee United’s favour at W3 D2 L1. Just one of those six previous meetings made it over 2.5 goals. The glimmer of hope for Inverness, despite being 4/1 underdogs, is that their only victory over Dundee United this season happened at Tannadice in an FA Cup tie just back in March.
