They say form is temporary and class is permanent and if that is true my class had better kick in soon because my form is nowhere to be seen.

You will often hear top cricketers say they are just one decent knock away from being in form but while they are out of form their edges carry and every marginal LBW decision goes against them.

That is pretty much how I feel at the moment and yesterdays match between the Emerging Boks and the Lions is a case in point. 

When writing my preview for this website I spotted a value bet based on the conditions which I knew were wet and windy. My selection was to back less than 37 points at odds of 15/10 with GreatOdds.  

The problem was I was in a rush to get to a meeting and when I logged on to follow my own advise the price had shortened leaving me scrambling to try and take the 5/6 about 40 points or less at World Sports Betting. Needless to say punters had climbed into that as well (it was highlighted in our forum) and in the end I opted to back the Lions to win by 7 points or more. 

That looked like being a decent call and with seconds remaining I never felt that bad about missing the points bet because my handicap punt looked set to arrive. The Emerging Boks though had other ideas and when Demas finished off a brilliant try right on the hooter my 5 unit loss felt more like a 20 unit hit given the lead up to the game and the way everything appeared to conspire against me. 

Looking back a few days I had some nervous moments in the Boks v Lions test having taken 10 units on the home team to win the series 3-0 at 16/10. The first leg seemed to be cruising in but I was on the edge of my seat as the Lions came close to achieving an amazing comeback. Still at least that one is still running.

My great golf run of late came to a shuddering halt in the US Open where my main bet Tiger Woods got caught on the wrong side of the draw finishing 4 shots back. The reality is that he could have won had he just putted a bit better so there is little point my moaning about the weather he caught in the opening rounds. Of my other selections Sean O’Hair threatened to contend until the very end of the 3rd round when a careless approach shot at 18 cost him a shot and he never appeared on the front page again. Tim Clark was perhaps overpowered by the golf course and finished well back of Goosen in the Top SA Player market where I had backed him at 4/1. 

Oh yes thanks to Sean (username RuggaBugga in our forum) for highlighting some value in the 3rd round match plays where I managed to claw back 3.4 units and well done to Ruan Fourie for topping my mini league in the competition at www.fs.co.za and winning R300 of World Sports Betting vouchers.

Oh yes let me not forget the cricket where having hardly got involved all tournament I took a spur of the moment 5 unit punt on Sri Lanka in the final at 8/10 against Pakistan. Fast forward 10 minutes and they were something like 2/2 never to recover although my hopes did perk up when they scrambled to 138 having looked like getting closer to 110 at one point. 

I lost a further 3 units on backing a Brawn car to win the British GP (2 units at 5/2) and Kreuziger to in the final ITT in the Tour de Suisse (1 unit at 14/1). On that note the Tour de France is coming and if you are not on my Tour mailing list drop me an e-mail titled TOUR to brent@goodforthegame.co.za – it is the greatest event of the year.

BULLISH ON THE BRITS

I have had a 10 unit punt on Andy Murray to win Wimbledon at 4.23/1 (prior to Nadal pulling out) and he came through his first round yesterday although was perhaps stretched further than I would have expected. 

My other great British hope disappointed though and that was Jenson Button who let Vettel back into the championship race at Silverstone. More about that in my Citizen article this week which will be published on Goodforthegame Thursday morning. 

BETTING SUMMARY (Year to Date)

Balance after week 23: +90.81 units
Week 24 result: -29.7 units
Running balance: +61.11 units

Pending Bets

F1: 2 units Button for the title at an average of 53/1

Lions Series: 10 units Boks 3-0 at 16/10

Wimbledon: 10 units Murray to win at 4.23/1 

Check out our Durban July section where we will be tracking the betting and bringing you some unique angles on this great race.

JOIN MY FACEBOOK GROUP

You can get on my mailing list by e-mailing me at brent@goodforthegame.co.za with the title Best Bets and you can also join my Facebook Group “Brent’s Best Bets” – just click on this link to check it out - http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=71025649115 

Chris and I also invite you to follow us on Twitter by visiting http://www.twitter.com/brentgraham and http://www.twitter.com/goodforthegame