Fridays Commonwealth Games Preview
Best Early Outright Bets:
New Zealand to win men’s sevens @9/4
Wales to win women’s team sprint @10/1
England to win women’s cricket @7/2
As its day one we will start daily picks from Saturday but here is a look ahead to up-coming events.
New Zealand are the team to beat when it comes to rugby sevens at the Commonwealth Games and their men’s squad look a fair price to defend their title in Coventry.
Rated second-favourites behind Olympic sevens kings Fiji, those two nations, along with South Africa, are the three big guns going for gold.
The All Blacks’ record in this event certainly encourages a bet on Clark Laidlaw’s group, which includes several members of the squad which topped the podium on the Gold Coast four years ago.
They have won five of six editions of the tournament and will feel they owe the Fijians, who pipped them to Olympic gold in Tokyo last summer.
Three-time finalists Fiji have decided to swerve the opening ceremony to maintain their focus ahead of opening-day clashes with Zambia and Canada. And the gold medal favourites have a comfortable group section, albeit making the last eight should be a breeze for all the top teams.
The New Zealanders did the double four years ago with their women also dotting up, and the Black Fearns look pretty much untouchable.
Four track cycling golds will be handed out on the opening day of the competition from the Lee Valley Velodrome in east London – the men’s and women’s team sprints and team pursuits.
There won’t be a dry eye in the house if Dame Laura Kenny can add to the points race gold she won in 2014 and cap quite the comeback after almost quitting the sport following a miscarriage.
Second behind the Germans with Great Britain at the UCI Track World Cup in Glasgow in April on her comeback, she’s part of an English team pursuit squad who look strong odds-on shots.
Wales might represent a bit of value in the women’s team sprint at 10-1.
The Welsh trio of Lowri Thomas and 19-year-olds Rhian Edmunds and Emma Finucane are getting better and stronger with each piece of experience they get.
They took gold at the British National Championships in March and then in the only Track Nations Cup event they competed at together – Glasgow in April – they pipped England for bronze. Their time in the third-place race was quicker than Canada managed in losing to the Dutch in the final. This Welsh triumvirate are going places fast and look a fair price.
Twelve teams go to post for the netball competition, which is split into two groups of six and, if the world rankings are your guide, will result in a semi-final line-up featuring England, Australia, New Zealand and Jamaica.
The women’s T20 cricket also gets under way with an all-conquering Australia side strong favourites. It looks like a two-horse race between the Aussies and England, whose form this summer and vagaries of the shortest format may make them a spot of value.
The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, is an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that is scheduled to be held in Birmingham, England from 28 July to 8 August 2022.
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