Snooker Final

And the final ...

1.16 O'Sullivan (S=19) v Carter

Snooker Semi Finals

Quarter final results look poor, so, grudgingly, here are the semi finals.

1.39 O'Sullivan (S=8) v Hendry
2.26 Perry (S=2) v Carter

Snooker Quarter Finals

Second round seemed to go better than the first, I shall publish some results soon.
Quarter Final system preferences are :

1.98 Day (S=4) v Hendry
1.16 O'Sullivan (S=20) v Liang
1.91 Ebdon (S=4) v Carter
1.27 Maguire (S=16) v Perry

Snooker Second Round Part 2

Remaining second round matches as below:

1.41 O'Sullivan (S=12) v Williams
1.71 Wenbo (S=7) v Swail
1.51 Maguire (S=25) v Robertson
2.80 Bingham (S=11) v Perry

Snooker Second Round Part 1

First round results so far have been disappointing, although there were some unfortunate final frame defeats. So here are this discredited system's tips for the first half of the second round matches ...

1.62 Ebdon (S=8) v King
2.80 Day (S=9) v Higgins
1.52 Ding (S=6) v Hendry
1.34 Murphy (S=23) v Carter

As the second round matches are longer, perhaps meaning less chance for misfortune?

World Championship Snooker

For the World Championship snooker, Wah has compared the implied relative skill levels of the competitors from the Betfair championship odds last night to the alternative relative skill levels derived from all the results this season. Therefore we now have a list of the snooker players from most underrated to most overrated by the available odds.

1 Shaun Murphy
2 Mark Selby
3 Marco Fu
4 Ken Doherty
5 Ronnie O'Sullivan
6 Stephen Maguire
7 Ding Junhui
8 Dave Harold
9 Ryan Day
10 Nigel Bond
11 Stuart Bingham
12 Stephen Lee
13 Stephen Hendry
14 Michael Judge
15 Anthony Hamilton
16 Barry Hawkins
17 Mark Williams
18 Jamie Cope
19 John Higgins
20 Peter Ebdon
21 Mark Allen
22 Joe Perry
23 Mark Davis
24 Allister Carter
25 Liang Wenbo
26 Graeme Dott
27 Matthew Stevens
28 Mark King
29 Steve Davis
30 Liu Chuang
31 Neil Robertson
32 Joe Swail

Wah therefore contends that in order to make a profit from the World Championship Snooker betting, simply back the higher player in the above list to win each match.
Therefore in the first round Wah will be observing the fortunes of these 16 players:

Odds,Player,Strength
1.5 Higgins S=8
1.44 Day S=5
2.5 Fu S=4
1.93 Hendry S=8
1.14 O'Sullivan S=25
1.42 Williams S=6
1.68 Lee S=20
1.44 Doherty S=21
1.2 Murphy S=7
2.32 Hawkins S=8
1.21 Selby S=26
2.2 Cope S=2
4.1 Bond S=21
1.33 Maguire S=9
1.65 Bingham S=18
1.59 Perry S=4

Strength is the number of places between the two players on the under/over-rated list above. This could be a simple measure for picking out the best bets or adjusting stakes according to the strength of the bets.

Ireland v Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka seemed to be trying to beat Ireland even more comprehensively than Australia did, and with 40 overs to spare they succeeded. Maharoof's 4-25 from 10 was the top performance in the match, but isn't enough to guarantee a place in the team with Malinga due back for the semis. Ireland's top contributor of the tournament was their wicketkeeper Niall O'Brien, nicknamed Paddy apparently, who was their only player to twice reach 50 and his batting was the main contribution in their big win over Pakistan.

Scorecard

5 MF Maharoof 64 (OMOM)
4 DPMD Jayawardene 59
3 ST Jayasuriya 48
2 M Muralitharan 40
1 KC Sangakkara 22

Irish World Cup Contributions

NJ O'Brien 112
DT Johnston 21
JP Bray 15
KED Carroll -19
PG Gillespie -24
AR White -26
WK McCallan -39
KJ O'Brien -40
EJG Morgan -80
JF Mooney -83
WTS Porterfield -84
D Langford-Smith -84
PJK Mooney -93
WB Rankin -98
AC Botha -101

England v South Africa

Pathetic England capitulated. Smith's unbeaten 89 from just 58 balls plus his two catches just enabled him to pip Hall's brilliant 5-18 best bowling of the tournament for top spot. Hall's was the biggest contribution of the tournament so far not to win the 5 points. Kallis and Smith move up the points standing to keep a small chance of being able to challenge McGrath. Vaughan almost reclaimed bottom spot in the batting tables with his slow 17.

Scorecard

5 GC Smith 162
4 AJ Hall 152 (OMOM)
3 A Nel 61
2 JH Kallis 36
1 AB de Villiers 29

MVP
GD McGrath 23
GB Hogg 18
JH Kallis 17
GC Smith 16
SB Styris 15

World Cup negative batting contribution
WTS Porterfield -126
Shahriar Nafees -144
EJG Morgan -148
MP Vaughan -164
Habibul Bashar -169

Sri Lanka v Australia

Sri Lanka allowed Australia to win this match to attempt to ensure a semi final against New Zealand. Nathan Wade Bracken produced the best bowling of the World Cup so far taking 4-19 from 9.4 overs and stopping the Sri Lankan innings in its tracks by removing both openers cheaply. This moved Bracken ahead of McGrath as the World Cup's top bowler, whilst the 3 Sri Lankans in the top 7 watched from the sidelines. Hogg emerged as McGrath's top challenger for player of the tournament.

Scorecard

5 NW Bracken 151 (OMOM)
4 A Symonds 70
3 GB Hogg 68
2 RT Ponting 66
1 ML Hayden 57

MVP

GD McGrath 23
GB Hogg 18
SB Styris 15
JH Kallis 15
NW Bracken 14

Top Bowling Contribution
NW Bracken 483
GD McGrath 464
GB Hogg 385
SE Bond 347
M Muralitharan 266
WPUJC Vaas 256
SL Malinga 223

Ireland v Bangladesh

The Australian Dave Langford-Smith took 2-27 from his 10 overs with a catch and 6* from 4 balls to earn himself top spot as Ireland finally won another match. Official man of the match Porterfield just missed out on the top 5 with his ponderous though useful 85 which was enough to drop him to 5th in worst batsman as Habibul Bashar reclaimed top spot despite stiff opposition from Morgan and Shahriar Nafees.

Scorecard

5 D Langford-Smith 86
4 DT Johnston 57
3 Mushfiqur Rahim 57
2 WK McCallan 55
1 AC Botha 44

Worst World Cup Batting Contribution
WTS Porterfield -126
MP Vaughan -141
Shahriar Nafees -144
EJG Morgan -148
Habibul Bashar -169