Champions League Twenty20 Betting -- NSW clear favorites against Trinidad and Tobago

Champions League Twenty20 Betting Odds

NSW Blues -170 vs. Trinidad and Tobago +140

Friday, October 16 - 10am

The second match of Friday’s Champions League Twenty20 double-header at Hyderabad should be a fairly cut and dry affair with NSW Blues heavy favourites to beat Trinidad and Tobago.

The quality of NSW is the clear indicator as to why the bookmakers feel the Blues will continue on their winning ways while a last ball win over Deccan Chargers looks good on paper for Trinidad & Tobago, the reality is they will be outclassed.

NSW, Australia’s second state team in the tournament along with Victoria, has never looked in danger so far at this tournament.

They strolled past both their group counterparts, the Diamond Eagles and Sussex Sharks, without even breaking into a sweat.

In a team littered by Australian internationals and names of the future, NSW lived up to their tournament favourite tag when they spanked 144 against the Eagles then rolled them for just 91 thanks to stellar individual performances from Simon Katich (53 off 41 balls) and Stuart Clark (3/12 off four overs).

In their second match, they refined their skills on the sub-continent further and lost just two wickets in setting Sussex 131 to win with future superstar Phillip Hughes (62 off 64 balls) and fellow legend in the making Moises Henriques (51 off 33 balls) doing all the work.

When it was their turn to bowl, Henriques backed up with 3/23 off four overs to restrict Sussex to just 95.

The two infinitesimal totals scored against NSW can be attributed to their bowling attack. Captain Katich can turn to the out-and-out pace of international Brett Lee, can throw the ball to Clark to tie up an end, he can bring in the spin of Nathan Hauritz or fling the pill to Test incumbent Doug Bollinger.

Throw Henriques medium pace into the mix and you have a A+ bowling attack.

NSW has gone against the grain in modern Twenty20 methodology and opted for an all pace attack that relies on subtle changes of pace to snare wickets and not turn to spin.

Current thinking, which is right on the money, is that spin forces the batsman to swing hard through the ball, come down the pitch at the bowler or bludgeon from the crease, all of which increases the chances of error and magnifies it 10-fold.

Surprisingly for some, Trinidad and Tobago have also moved through the opening round of the tournament unbeaten. Ranked outsiders to make it through their pool, the West Indies only team has done better than most expected and sent the more fancied Indian Premier League franchise, the Deccan Chargers, reeling from the tournament earlier than anyone expected.

Their success has also been built around their bowling attack. While the Caribbean crusaders are no slouches with the bat having posted 150 and 149, their real potency has been their wide variety of bowlers.

Samuel Badree’s leg-spin has gone for just 6.42 an over, Sherwin Ganga off-spin has gone for 6.60 while Dave Mohammed’s chinaman has gone for 5.57 and the trio has snared five wickets but the key is runs conceded an over. To have three spinners averaging about a run a ball is fair going.

Add to this the experience of Dwayne Bravo who single-handedly won his team’s do-or-die match against Deccan, and their attack, despite lacking considerable international experience, could prove to be one the deadliest in the tournament.