If I did not think there was skill to sports betting I would have thrown in the towel many years ago. I love to do my research and study the odds before betting but that being said there are times when you have to sit back and acknowledge that you have enjoyed some serious luck along the way. {readmorelink}Read more{/readmorelink}

I really cleaned up in the recent Proteas v England test series where in my view the visitors were being underrated by the bookmakers. My main bet was the drawn series at odds of 7/2 and along the way I also backed the first test draw, England to win the 2^nd at a juicy 4/1 and a draw at Newlands. I was on the mark in all 3 tests meaning that I could at last support the Proteas in the final match as victory would square things up.

The boys delivered in no uncertain terms and the cherry on the top was that I had backed Smith and Collingwood to be top series run scorers for their countries and despite trailing Kallis and Bell by some distance heading to Joburg they both did the business ensuring a rare clean sweep of winning bets for this happy punter.

While watching the final presentations it was hard to argue with the decision that Swann and Boucher would share the “Man of the Series” award although had I been the adjudicator it would have gone to someone who was dropped for the final match, took only 8 wickets and scored a mere 11 runs.

Had it not been for the resilience of Graham Onions the number 11 batsman at both Centurion and Newlands I would be reflecting on a substantial loss rather than an exciting win. On both occasions he faced the final over needing to survive under enormous pressure to keep the Proteas from winning the match and he did this each time with the composure of a top order bat.

His contribution in terms of statistics may have been small but it was immense in terms of the series and in particular how I will look back on it. Yes it will go down as probably my most successful from a punting perspective but I had to rely on a man averaging 10 runs in test cricket to hold his end up and there has to be some luck in that.

This article was written for the CitiGaming supplement of the Citizen Newspaper and was first published on the 21^st of January 2010.

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