West Indies v Pakistan
Cricket World Cup – 10.30 am
Sky Sports
This is going to be a massively intriguing game from the Cricket World Cup. It could also be wildly entertaining. Pakistan are on a ten-match losing streak of form at the moment in One Day Internationals. It’s not the greatest of preparations by any means ahead of the Cricket World Cup. However, the leading bookmakers have them at 8/11 to win their opening fixture of the tournament.
Pakistan have taken just the four wins away from their last twenty matches, but still, there is some optimism that they will turn it on when the tournament starts. Pakistan do have a history of that. They also have the batting line up to make an impression, but their bowling and fielding confidence looks pretty low. So will they be able to shake off all of their recent troubles and settle their own nerves by getting a win on the board?
They will get a challenge from the West Indies who have been a bit hit and miss with their form over the last twelve months. They smashed a whopping 421 in their final warm-up match against New Zealand earlier in the week. That is what they are capable of with the bat. They have some heavy hitters in their line up like Andre Russell and Chris Gayle who can smash any bowling attack to the boundary. There could be fireworks in this one and the Windies will be taken on by punters at 11/10 odds perhaps as one of the best bets of the day.
David Goffin v Rafael Nadal
French Open Tennis – 10:00 am
Eurosport
Rafael Nadal, the reigning French Open champion will be lining up to David Goffin in the third round of action on Friday. It has been plain sailing for the eleven-time champion so far in Paris. He has cruised through the first round rounds dropping just the thirteen games on his way. He is a strong odds-on favourite to get the win in this match. The leading bookmakers have a Rafael Nadal 3-0 correct score in the Set Betting market at 4/11. That’s a massive indication of his favouritism.
This will be the fifth meeting between Nadal and Belgium’s Goffin. Nadal has won three of those four meetings and each of the Spaniard’s wins came on the clay surface. Nadal is the King of Clay without question. The one defeat that he suffered against Goffin was back in the round robin stage of the 2017 ATP World Tour Finals in London. Goffin is currently ranked 29th in the world and is on the search for his first title this year.
He’s a big outside chance at Roland Garros for it to happen there. Heading into the French Open he was W10 L12 in matches for the season. He has been having some injury issues which have had a hand in his drop in rankings and form. He is a former top ten player. Like Nadal, Goffin has come through two comfortable matches in the early rounds. This is a massive step up in degree of opposition though and it’s going to get tough for him. The leading bookies have Goffin as big as 14/1 in the match outright.
Hull KR v Warrington
Rugby League Challenge Cup – 7.35 pm
Sky Sports
It is quarterfinal action from the Rugby League Challenge Cup on Friday night as Hull KR play host to Warrington Wolves at the KCOM Craven Park. Hull KR started their campaign in a narrow home win over Leigh Centurions, edging the game 14-10. They had a bit of an easier time in the sixth round of competition though as they powered their way to a comfortable road win against the Salford Red Devils.
Now they will be going into a big scrap with the Wolves, who were runners up in last season’s Final to the Catalans Dragons. The two teams have had contrasting seasons in the Super League, with Hull KR sitting second from bottom with 11 defeats in their 15 games played there. So they may be finding a bit of relief in the Cup. They are the 11/4 underdogs for this home fixture though with leading bookmakers.
Warrington are second in the Super League and they are second favourites to win this season’s Challenge Cup as well. They had a tough tie in the last round as they were up against the Wigan Warriors. That one went down to the wire as well, with the Wolves squeezing over the finish line by a two-point margin. Blake Austin, who is the top try scorer in the Super League this season is 4/7 with leading bookmakers to get the first touchdown of the game for Wolves.
