India v Australia
Cricket World Cup – 10.30 am
Sky Sports
This is one of the big, heavyweight clashes of the Cricket World Cup. Both India and Australia are expected to be in the final four of the tournament. There should be some fireworks in this one. India started the World Cup a little later than the rest of the nations involved. That was because of the end of their domestic IPL season. India opened their World Cup campaign with a six-wicket win over South Africa. They have their star power lead by captain Virat Kohli and he will take plenty of backing as one of the best bets of the day to be India’s top batsman.
Australia have come to play though. They are the reigning World Cup holders and are right in top form again now after some struggles. They claimed an easy 7-wicket victory over Afghanistan in their World Cup opener without breaking a sweat. Then they did a fantastic job of defending a 288 total against West Indies. However, in that match, the Windies had them on the ropes but could not finish them off. Australia edged home by 15 runs.
This game could be something special. Australian bowlers Mitchell Stark and Pat Cummins look in top shape at the moment. Steve Smith and David Warner have already made positive contributions with the bat. But then you have India who just look stronger as an all-around team. The top bookmakers have India at 4/5 against Australia’s even money quote. It is expected to be that close.
England v Scotland
Women’s World Cup 2019 – 5.00 pm
BBC
England’s Lioness make their first strides into the 2019 Women’s World Cup. It is going to be against their neighbours from north of the border, Scotland. This should be a great derby fixture and really what it does is heap a little extra pressure on England. England are the 1/5 favourites with top bookmakers in the match outright. But the occasion makes this game a little tricky for them. It is against a team who are going to be fired up to take them on.
England have actually won only three of their last six games played and don’t look anywhere near as dynamic as they were when they took bronze four years ago in Canada. The expectancy is fully on them to pick up the win, but in their warm-up matches, they suffered some poor defeats in international friendly games against New Zealand and Canada. Will it all come together on the day for them?
Scotland are in a positive frame of mind at the moment and won’t mind starting as 14/1 underdogs with top bookies. They know they are underdogs and have nothing to lose because of that. But they have won four of their last five games, going unbeaten in that sequence of form. At Euro 2017 Scotland were humiliated in a crushing 6-0 defeat against England in the group stage. They are much better equipped this time around, crucially with no injury problems to their star players. They could make it a closer contest against the Lionesses.
Australia v Italy
Women’s World Cup 2019 – 12 noon
BBC
This looks as if it is going to be an enjoyable meeting between Australia and Italy at the Women’s World Cup. There’s no question that the Matildas from Australia are the favourites and the bookmakers have them at 8/13 to win this game. They are regarded as something of a dark horse for this tournament. Australia will be looking to better a sequence of three straight quarter-final exits at the Women’s World Cup. They have superstar power in their young forward Sam Kerr who is a genuine Golden Boot contender. If Australia find a supply line to her, then she will score.
But this is an interesting fixture because Italy are on the rise. They are undefeated in the 2019 calendar year and have been consistently putting up good results. The Italians aren’t quite at the level of being among the top tier teams in the world, but they are starting to knock on the door. They are developing something very good and even though they are 4/1 underdogs in this one, there is a decent chance that they could throw down a challenge. It will be fascinating to see what both of these bring to the table in this World Cup opener.
