Pakistan v South Africa
Cricket World Cup 2019 – 10.30 am
Sky Sports
Pakistan’s World Cup is petering out pretty quickly now. They just have not been able to build upon that big success of beating hosts England in their second tournament fixture. They had their next game against Sri Lanka washed out and on their return, and then were toppled by Australia by 41 runs. Then came their big match against rivals India. Pakistan were never in the match. They are 11/10 underdogs with leading bookmakers to win this, what appears to be a really even match up.
The positive is, is that Pakistan have gotten the bulk of their toughest games out of the way. They step out against South Africa in this one, who have been equally as disappointing at the tournament. Then after facing New Zealand, Pakistan will close out with easier games against Afghanistan and Bangladesh. Still though, with just three points, a top-four finish looks unlikely to happen. That’s true for both of them.
South Africa started their tournament with a defeat against hosts England and really struggled to get going from there. Their only bright moment came in their fourth game when they beat outsiders Afghanistan, a match that the Proteas were also odds-on favourites to win, no matter how poor their form was. But they could not handle the pressure in their following fixture against New Zealand, tumbling to another defeat. South Africa are 8/11 to collect the match victory in this one against the unpredictable Pakistan.
Colombia v Paraguay
Copa America 2019 – 8.00 pm
Premier Sports
The Colombians are sailing towards the knockout stage of the Copa America. After sinking Argentina 2-0 in their opening game, they left it late to come up with a winner against Qatar in their second group fixture. Actually, all three of Colombia’s goals in this summer’s tournament have been scored after the 70th minute. Atalanta striker David Zapata has scored an 86th-minute goal in both fixtures.
So Los Cafeteros are looking in good shape and the top bookmakers have them at 8/11 to make it three wins from three in the group, by taking down Paraguay. It is a four-match winning streak that Colombia are currently on at the moment and they have conceded a single goal in that streak of form.
Paraguay started the Copa America with just one win under their belt since 2017 and that was in a friendly against Guatemala. They opened the tournament with a 2-2 draw against Qatar after throwing away a 2-0 lead in the game. But Paraguay did win the last time that they met Colombia, which was back in World Cup 2019 qualifying, taking a 2-1 win in Bogota. They had lost their five previous games on the bounce against the Colombians though. They are 9/2 with top bookies to come up with another victory over them.
French Grand Prix
Formula 1 – 2.00 pm
Sky Sports
Will the Lewis Hamilton 2019 F1 season procession continue this weekend in France? Hamilton took a win at the Canadian Grand Prix last time out. He was trailing Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, but under pressure from Hamilton, the German went off the track and re-entered in an unsafe manner. That’s according to the race officials who handed Vettel a five-second penalty. So while the Ferrari was home first on the track, Hamilton was close enough to actually win the race.
Hamilton has now won the last three races and it continued the streak of Mercedes having won all races for the season. Hamilton heads into the weekend 29 points clear at the top of the Driver’s Championship ahead of teammate Valtteri Bottas. With the racetrack in France this weekend not particularly suited to the Ferrari (which they have admitted themselves) it could be another big weekend for Mercedes.
Hamilton is the 8/11 odds-on favourite with top bookmakers to win with Bottas second favourite at 11/4. Last year’s edition was won by Hamilton, giving him his first win at the track. The French Grand Prix was not used from 2009 onward until it returned last year. Hamilton took the win by a massive seven-second margin over Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, having gone from the front of the grid.
