Cricket betting tips and preview: Jos Buttler and Josh Hazlewood head T20 World Cup specials picks

Cricket tips: ICC T20 World Cup, October 17-November 14

2pts Josh Hazlewood top Australia tournament bowler at 4/1 (General)

2pts Jos Buttler top England tournament batsman at 3/1 (Coral, Ladbrokes)

2pts Roston Chase top West Indies tournament batsman at 12/1 (General)

2pts Mitchell Santner top New Zealand tournament bowler at 10/1 (Paddy Power, Betfair)

1pt e.w. Mitchell Santner top tournament bowler at 50/1 (Betway)

Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook

Fair play to Paddy Power and Betfair for making the early running when it comes to pricing up the T20 World Cup specials, and there is plenty of value on offer with those two firms and the others to have followed in the last few days.

The difficulty when assessing the top tournament batsman and bowler markets is having confidence that your selection will play in the semi-finals, at least – if not the final. The fact there isn’t a prolonged play-off stage in this competition – unlike the Indian Premier League and Big Bash – does help, but every game counts in these markets and it does temper enthusiasm for striking a sizeable bet.

Concentrating on individual team markets allows us to approach things with a good deal more confidence, and JOSH HAZLEWOOD rates a strong fancy in the top Australia tournament bowler market. The New South Wales paceman has again been priced up behind Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins, but neither boasts the current credentials of Hazlewood.

For starters, Hazlewood has spent the last month honing his skills in the UAE in the second half of the IPL, playing a leading role in Chennai Super Kings’ march to another title with typically excellent new-ball spells and some improved displays at the death.

There was a time with Hazlewood was perceived as a Test specialist – he didn’t even make Australia’s squad for the 50-over World Cup in England in 2019 – but he has resolved to shake off that stereotype and is doing a pretty good job of it.

When Australia played a five-match T20 series in the Caribbean earlier in the year, Hazlewood claimed four wickets to Starc’s solitary scalp, while in Bangladesh a few months later, Hazlewood’s strike-rate was again superior to Starc’s. Starc is currently 7/4 favourite in this market. Hazlewood is priced up at 4/1.

The other potential fly in the ointment is Cummins, who, like Starc, will head to the World Cup from Australia having chosen not to play in the second half of the IPL. Cummins is a wonderful bowler with an outstanding Test record, but he will come into this tournament cold and his performances in IPL 2020 in the UAE were a shade disappointing – even more so at the death.

Furthermore, Cummins has only in the last few days become a father for the first time, and he would be forgiven if his mind were elsewhere when forced to turn his attentions back to the cricket field.

With wrist spinner Adam Zampa more about containment than searching for wickets, I do think prices of 4/1 severely underestimate Hazlewood’s chances, and I advise backing him accordingly.

• CLICK HERE to back Hazlewood with Sky Bet

Openers hold the aces in testing conditions

If the second leg of the IPL has taught us anything ahead of the T20 World Cup, it’s that batting at the top of the order against the hard, new ball is much easier than when taking to the crease later on and having to start your innings against spin and a soft ball on pitches that are slow and offering plenty of turn. In the four play-off matches at the IPL, including the final, the top batsman market was won by an opener in all eight innings.

Conditions for batting in the UAE have been challenging throughout, and while there is the likelihood that a few strips will have been left unused ahead of the World Cup, the squares are understandably looking worn and tired and it’s hard to see things getting much easier, if at all. As any groundsman will tell you, if you keep opening up pitches without allowing them sufficient time to recover, conditions will inevitably worsen. This was always going to be the case and the ground staff at these venues have my sympathy.

With openers seemingly holding a significant advantage, I've been dissuaded from taking relatively short prices about a couple of players who were on my radar, chiefly Devon Conway who has enjoyed exceptional 18 months or so in international cricket, most recently in Test cricket having previously put up some outstanding numbers in the shortest format of the game.

Conway currently averages a staggering 59.12 in 14 T20Is with a very impressive strike-rate of 151.11, and the likes of Australia, Pakistan and West Indies have felt his wrath already. He has made two scores of 90-plus to confirm that, just as in Test cricket, he tends to go big once set, and I like that his batting, and indeed his career, are on a steep upward trajectory at present.

However, with Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson shoe-ins in the top three, and Tim Seifert also vying for one of the opening batsman spots, there is a chance Conway will find himself batting at number four for the Kiwis. Williamson sat out New Zealand's opening warm-up match on Saturday as Conway batted at number three.

In truth, I just don't know where exactly Conway will end up in this top four, and with the waters too muddy to have any real confidence, I have to sit this one out having originally had Conway firmly in mind for top New Zealand batsman (3/1) and top tournament runscorer (20/1). Were Conway sure to be batting at the top of the order for New Zealand, I would have had no hesitation in putting him up.

With JOS BUTTLER's role much clearer, he makes strong appeal for top England tournament batsman in a field where it’s easy to find fault with his opponents.

Jason Roy will likely join Buttler at the top of the order, but I’ve always had my doubts about the Surrey man against quality spin in tough batting conditions, and his IPL career to date, though not disastrous, has yet to reach anywhere near the same heights as his exploits at home.

With Dawid Malan’s ability to combat these conditions also in question, Buttler is likely to have most to fear from Jonny Bairstow – a fellow white-ball giant who is also an excellent player of spin. The problem for England is that Bairstow is pencilled to come in at number four when he clearly should be opening with Buttler.

That should give Buttler a free run and his IPL numbers, as well as the fact he averages 42.60 in 17 T20Is in India, confirm his game is well-equipped for the conditions he will encounter in the coming weeks. I actually didn’t think Buttler looked in great form when playing the first half of IPL 2021 back in the spring, before opting out of the UAE leg of the competition ahead of a busy winter, but he still managed to power a blistering century against Sunrisers Hyderabad and finished the season with a strike-rate in excess of 150.

• CLICK HERE to back Buttler with Sky Bet

Another boasting excellent recent credentials is Glenn Maxwell, but the prospect of Australia shunting him down to number five in order to make room for Steve Smith and Mitchell Marsh means I just can’t strike a bet on the Royal Challengers Bangalore hitman.

Maxwell finished IPL 2021 with 513 runs to his name at a strike-rate pushing 150, and he was continually one of the few middle-order batsmen able to clear the ropes against spin on some very tough batting pitches.

Put simply, Maxwell is in the form of his life and has been quick to credit his golden run with the stability provided by his new franchise, who handed him a permanent position at number four and allowed him to play with the freedom he relishes.

Were he likely to bat at three or four for Australia, I’d be advising a bet on Maxwell at 11/2 in the top Australia batsman market given I can’t see David Warner and Aaron Finch troubling the scorers too much. Using Maxwell as a finisher puts me off, however, with Marsh and Smith above him likely to chew up deliveries and leave their red-hot teammate with too much to do in too little time.

My final bet on the top batman markets will be on West Indian ROSTON CHASE.

A few months ago, Chase wasn't on the West Indies selectors minds for T20 cricket, and certainly not mine, but closing in on his 30th birthday, the Bajan is set to make his T20I debut at this World Cup following a string of remarkable performances for St Lucia Kings in the Caribbean Premier League.

St Lucia were beaten in the final, but their impressive upturn in fortunes in the second half of the competition was largely down to Chase's 446 runs which came at an average of 49.55 and saw him finish as the competition's top runscorer. Despite being known as a doughty middle-order batsman in Test cricket, Chase's strike-rate in the CPL was 144.33 as he displayed impressive power and poise from number four.

It was those displays that made it impossible for him to be left out of the West Indies squad for the UAE, and with his very useful off spin sure to add important balance to the side in these conditions, Chase looks set for a starting berth when the champions kick off their title defence against England.

Furthermore, all the noise coming out the Caribbean is that Chase will be asked to play a similar type of role to the one Marlon Samuels carried out to such good effect for a long period of time. While not short of power himself, Samuels was at his best when holding the West Indies innings together as the likes of Chris Gayle and Andre Russell took on the boundary with more frequency.

Five years on and not much has really changed for the West Indies, but for Evin Lewis and Nicholas Pooran adding even more power to the batting, and that need for someone to anchor the innings in the way Samuels used to is something captain Kieron Pollard has spoken about in recent days. It's a tried and tested formula for the West Indies and Chase fits the bill.

Chase seems highly likely to bat at number four, splitting a top order featuring the likes of Gayle and Lewis, and a middle order of Pooran, Russell and Pollard. He might not make the headlines, but Chase could easily go about his business quietly and efficiently, accumulating his runs while his colleagues are tasked with taking more risks on some challenging surfaces.

It certainly sounds good in theory, and while I'm loathe to move away from the top three for many of the reasons listed earlier in the piece, things could be set up nicely for Chase who is big enough at 12/1 to persuade me to strike a bet.

• CLICK HERE to back Chase with Sky Bet

Spin twins too big for top bowler bets

I’ve made the case for New Zealand so many times now that even I’m getting bored of the sound of my own voice, but I do like their chances, in part because of the threat their spin duo, MITCHELL SANTNER and Ish Sodhi, will pose.

At the 2016 T20 World Cup in India, the pair finished joint-third in the tournament wickets list with 10 dismissals each, and with conditions expected to offer them plenty of assistance out here, I’m hoping for more of the same.

Santner was still only a young man then, certainly for a spin bowler, but he is approaching 30 now and has developed into a fine cricketer. A left-arm finger spinner who isn’t afraid to give the ball some air, he changes his pace really well and can give it a rip when conditions allow.

He has an excellent record in 50- and 20-over cricket and though spending the last few weeks carrying drinks, he has been at the IPL with Chennai Super Kings – watching, learning and practicing in these conditions alongside some champion cricketers.

The top New Zealand bowler market is headed by pace spearhead Trent Boult, but he struggled badly for wickets in the second half of the IPL, while long-time ally Tim Southee really should miss out on the Kiwi starting XI given likely conditions. As good as they are, I wouldn’t touch either at 2/1 and 3/1 respectively.

I won’t be underestimating Sodhi, and 5/1 for the wrist spinner in this market immediately caught the eye, though in nothing like the same way the 10/1 about Santner did. Quite frankly, that is a monstrous price about an effective white-ball bowler who should thrive on these wickets. I’ll be tucking into the 10/1, while in the belief that New Zealand will go deep into the competition, taking the 50/1 (Betway) about Santner to be top tournament wicket-taker looks worth a go to small stakes, with 1/4 odds first four certainly appealing.

• CLICK HERE to back Santner with Sky Bet

By the same token, the 50/1 (Paddy Power, Betfair) about the aforementioned Sodhi is certainly big enough to be of interest, but I prefer Santner at this stage of his career and suspect his batting would earn him the nod over Sodhi should New Zealand for some reason prefer seam over spin in regards to team selection and elect not to play the pair together at some point.

For South Africa, the 8/1 on offer for Keshav Maharaj very nearly lured me in. I’ve long been a big fan of Maharaj and am pleased to see him get his chance at a World Cup having only played three T20Is in his career to date.

I think he’ll do well if South Africa put their faith in him, but a strong pace contingent might persuade them to go in that direction in terms of selection, and the likes of Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi can all make hay at the death.

Don’t discount Maharaj if the vibes nearer the time indicate he’ll get the nod for South Africa's opening match against Australia, but for now I’m happy to sit tight.

Published at 2100 BST on 16/10/21

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