Taking value at the ICC Champions Trophy

Despite this being the last ICC Champions Trophy to be held, the tournament poses some interesting matches for cricket fans.  The condensed round robin format, and inclement weather in the United Kingdom, can throw up some intriguing situations.  Some of those situations can be very profitable for the smart sports punter.India have loomed as the team to beat throughout the championships and there’s no doubting their supreme skill with the bat is matched by their bowling attack which has enjoyed the drier tracks that have been more common in England than in recent years.  But is there any value in betting on India? They are the clear favourites, so unless you were on pre-tournament, is hard to mount a moving horse.One of our picks for a bit more value is South Africa.  After losing their first round match to India, and with injuries to key personnel, the Africans have blown out in the betting to juicy double figure odds.  This is an over-reaction with their next matches against the unpredictable Pakistan and West Indies.  With spearhead Dale Steyn set to return to give them some much-needed fire power, and their batting always strong, the South Africans are offering tremendous value at $10.They won’t necessarily even have to win both games to progress to the semi-final stage, depending on other results.The other advantage of getting on South Africa is that they won’t have to face India if they do make the semis.  With the other group in a bit of a shambles, you would have to say that South Africa are clear favourites over Australia and New Zealand, England throwing up a bag of all sorts and Sri Lanka perhaps the biggest challenge.If they progress to the semis the South Africa should come in to under $4. This would be a good spot to lay some of your liability, and then again if they win the semi-final and face a likely foe in India in the final. You could run with your bet in the final, but another lay at around $2.50 would seem the best play against the strong Indian line up.South Africa will be our main play, but if you want a couple of speculation bets then suggest New Zealand or Australia at big odds.  The Kiwis have been playing well in recent matches over there and seem to have England’s measure, while Australia have been pretty terrible and lack batting quality, but have a champion’s mentality that could be dangerous in such a short tournament.