FORD RANGER CUP (50 OVER AUSTRALIAN DOMESTIC COMPETITION)
Begins 8th October

2007-08 WINNERS - TASMANIA
2007-08 RUNNERS UP - VICTORIA

Despite having one of the least star studded squads of the domestic Australia state teams, Tasmania triumphed in the Ford Ranger Cup final over Victoria by the narrowest margin possible, a one wicket victory, and therefore lifted the trophy. Prepare for another exciting season in prospect!
 
From a betting perspective what can be a little frustrating is the amount of firms that will price up individual matches and outright markets, as if there was more interest then we would get a more competitive set of prices. As it goes though we do have small blessings is that the odd bookmaker can be prone to a fall for putting up out of line prices which you can take advantage of, this is possible usually because there isn't much to benchmark against.
 
Just like in English domestic cricket, you have to make allowances for International absences and always keep on top of team and injury news.
What seemed like a cushy even money side could look significantly less value if you don't do your research and find out later that Team X were fielding a depleted attack because two of their main strike bowlers were called up to the national team or that the captain is serving a one-match ban for abusing an official. It sounds clichéd to hell but knowledge is power, as with betting on any sport.
 
What I am going to do is give you my recommendations on who is likely to be challenging for the 50-Over competition and who is likely not to be.
 
If you aren't completely aux fait with how the Aussie domestic competition's are run here is a bit of a clear up:
There are six state teams that battle it out and they are New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia. The teams play each other home and away, so that is ten matches per team. The top two teams in the competition will play against each other in a final which is played at the home of the team that finished top of the regular season standings, and the winner of this match are of course the champions.
One new addition is a quite dreadful decision to start letting teams call themselves under sponsored names and this really cheapens things a little in my opinion and makes it seem less sporting, more business fuelled.
 
Before looking at who can win the competition, I always find it useful to sift out the teams that definitely will not be troubling the trophy engravers. There are three teams in the hunt in my opinion, but first I will list the team's that won't be!

 
SOUTH AUSTRALIA - Best price - 9
AKA - 'West End Redbacks'



With a team short on experience with the retirement's of Jason Gillespie, Darren Lehmann, Matthew Elliott and Greg Blewett, the team have been forced to do a major rebuild with an eye on the future.
Mark Cosgrove is a classy batsmen and much to the gain of the Redbacks he is out of favour with the national team because of his inability to keep himself in shape. Highly amusing stuff indeed but not for fans because he really is the one and only bright spot right now.
A long hard season awaits.

 
NEW SOUTH WALES - Best price - 5
AKA - 'Speed Blitz Blues'



Last season's Pura Cup winners, the Blues were not a particularly good one day side last season and I see even less reason for them to be this season with key absences affecting the start of their season. Simon Katich, Brett Lee, Stuart Clark, Doug Bollinger, Brad Haddin and Phil Jacques will be off on international duty in India and this leaves massive gaps.
The emphasis of the season will be youth and spin. A spate of youngster are coming through the ranks and should enable the Blues to bed some of them in well this season and whilst this is all very nice, it is unlikely to win trophies. A factor that could help them do well is their excellent spin duo of Beau Casson and Nathan Hauritz that will enjoy the SCG dust bowl wicket.
They have very little chance of doing anything substantial in this competition particularly, look out next year though..

 
QUEENSLAND - Best Price - 6.5
 AKA - 'XXXX Gold Queensland Bulls'



Matthew Hayden and Shane Watson are not likely to feature much this season for the Bulls but a really negative for the Australian national team in the fall out from Andrew Symonds infamous fishing trip is that he was dropped from the squad and therefore will be available for the Bulls which considering that he is a world class destructive batsmen can only be a positive thing.
My big concern for the Bulls is that they have a few good individuals in their line up but no real team feel.
Captain Chris Simpson is a key performer with the bat and ball, his spin bowling could often be crucial in the middle overs.
James Hopes and Ashley Noffke are good all-rounders at this level and will miss part of the season through international commitments but not too much as they are not considered Test players.
On their day I am sure that the Queensland side will be able to beat any of the others, but I am fairly confident that this will not be a regular occurrence and as such I cannot be backing them outright unless I get a large price.
 
These are the teams that I see as being the ones to beat:
 
VICTORIA - Best Price - 4.5 JT FAV
AKA - 'VB Bushrangers'



With masses of talent it is easy to see why the markets love Victoria and I have to agree that they do have a good chance of success if they perform as they should. The Twenty20 Champs were expected to follow up and add the Ford Ranger cup to their cabinet in the final last season but were pipped at the post by Tasmania and this will really frustrate them because it turns a brilliant season into merely a good one because they ended up being beaten in the Pura Cup final too.
In the batting ranks the Bushrangers have recently added terrific Derbyshire batsmen to the side alongside the likes of David Hussey, Brad Hodge and Captain and all-rounder Cameron White. Impressive cast-list indeed.
What does concern me a little is the lack of penetration within the bowling ranks. Shane Harwood and Mick Lewis (who has the indignity of the worst individual match bowling figures in One-Day International cricket history) are seasoned campaigners but are hardly likely to strike fear into batsmen countrywide. Of even more infamy is the One-Test wonder for England in Darren Pattinson who should on a serious note put in some decent performances but once again, is hardly likely to rip through line ups.
I like the look of them but don't see them as worthy Joint-Favourites at all as there are too many niggly issues which could hamper them.

 
TASMANIA - Best Price - 7
AKA - 'PKF Tasmanian Tigers'



Last seasons winners are always capable of providing shocks with alarming regularity which kind of ridicules the fact that they are considered shocks. With only Ricky Ponting as a regular for the national team, the Tigers are not a side that is regularly depleted so can use their lack of apparent star quality to their advantage. Spinner Jason Krejza is a newcomer to the Australian national team but I'd be surprised if he was seen much more by them after the Indian series because if I'm honest, I don't believe him to be quite up to the demands of an Indian tour which although it seems downbeat, can only be to the advantage of the 'Tazzie' side.
Although they do not have the glory men amongst their ranks, they have a solid batting line up which is usually opened by a talented pairing in Travis Birt and Michael Dighton and have two very good middle order batsmen in captain Daniel Marsh and vice captain George Bailey. They shouldn't fall short of runs.
In terms of bowling, the Tigers should have spinner Krejza available for a good part of the season and should be able to back up the seam attack which includes Brett Hilfenhaus and all rounder Luke Butterworth, but possibly the major player in limited overs bowling will be Brett Geeves who took three wickets in last seasons final and is a threat with his inswinging yorkers.
I find it hard to believe that these guys are second last in the betting and think that this is insulting to them but great value for punters.

 
WESTERN AUSTRALIA - Best Price - 4.5 JT FAV
AKA - 'Retravision Warriors'



With a team stacked with batting talent, the guys from the West will be causing headaches for bowlers throughout the season. With Michael Hussey likely to be unavailable for International reason for most of the season I can tell you that they will barely miss him. A batting line up including Shaun Marsh (of IPL fame!), Marcus North, Adam Voges, Luke Ronchi and Luke Pomersbach you can see why they will be a force to be reckoned with. In terms of bowling ranks, the Warriors can look to Ben Edmonson and Steve Magoffin to shoulder the burden of spearheading the attack but will have Mitchell Johnson around when he isn't donning the baggy green. Each of North, Voges and Pomersbach can bowl effective spin to cover vital overs where required. The potential ace in the pack is young starlet Mitchell Marsh who is an all rounder who is soon to become seventeen years of age and is apparently on course to be even better than his older brother, Shaun. If that is true, he will be awesome!
They will score plenty of runs and should adopt an exciting brand of cricket.
 
RECOMMENDATIONS - 3 Points on Western Australia @ 4.5 (Stan James)
2 Points on Tasmania @ 7 (Canbet)