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 There are few things in life more exciting than collecting on a bet in a nail biting finish like a golf playoff or a last minute drop goal, but sometimes it is nice to sit back with the pressure off and “win easy”.
That is exactly what I thought I was doing this past Sunday, day 5 of the 1st test between the Proteas and England. I was strong on the draw from the outset as I thought both sides would struggle to get the 20 wickets required for victory and I took a big bet on the stalemate at 2/1 with the idea of minimizing my risk or covering should the draw become the favourite.
I got this opportunity on Day 3 where I backed both England and the Proteas in running leaving me with a nice profit if the draw arrived and pulling square should there have been a result either way.
Heading into Day 5 England were all but gone and the draw and Proteas win were disputing favouritism. After a shaky start Trott and Pietersen steadied the ship and the score was around 160/3 when I got out of the car at Emmerentia Dam to take my son cycling.
Hearing the commentary the car guard sidled over to ask what was happening and I confidently announced, “it’s a draw”.
2.5 hours later and after having my nearly 5 year old son Robert drop me on a couple of climbs I started the engine again. The radio blared into life but rather than the music I was expecting I heard Gerald de Kock say something along the lines of “he will try and shield Swann from the strike”. This match should have been ended with a handshake over an hour ago, what on earth was happening?
It turned out I had missed one of the great English collapses and the drive home was extremely tense as South Africa chased those final 2 wickets. Leaving the bikes on the car (and Robert inside) I ran in to watch Ntini bowl the final over to Onions who duly played it out to save the match and my bet.
While all ended well I was reminded of the fact that in sports betting winning easy does not happen often, especially to this punter. That of course is part of why I love it.
This article first appeared in the Citizen CitiGaming section on Thursday 24 December 2009
Brent Graham is a blogger on www.goodforthegame.co.za and presents a sports betting radio show every Saturday morning at 07h30 on 1485AM Radio Today or Channel 169 of the DSTV Audio Bouquet.
You can follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/brentgraham or get on his mailing list by dropping him a line at brent@goodforthegame.co.za
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