All the bookies are in agreement, Australia will win this international and the odds are so conventional that the best price to be found on this outcome is a rather stingy 19/100 at Betfair. So, with this in mind, is there any money to be made on this game at all? Well, yes there is. For starters, assuming you are a little crazy, you could well put some money on the New Zealand boys claiming an unexpected (to say the least) victory. With odds as good as 11/4 at Sky Bet, it goes to show that the bookies don’t feel that such an outcome is completely impossible, just very very unlikely.

So, where is the real money hiding at? Well if you fancy placing a bet on this game, your best chance at making a profit comes from the Australian Top Runs Scorer option with Shane Watson being the favourite to claim the most runs for the Aussies. Even though Shane is the favourite however, at odds of 3/1 at Paddy Power and Stan James, it is certainly worth a punt. The nest favourite is Ricky Ponting who is also bringing in similar odds. So, if you simply have to place a bet on this one day international, then these are your best options. Sure, you can put some money on New Zealand winning outright, but safe to say that it might be unwise.

Shane Watson to lead scoring for Australia – 3/1 at Paddy Power and Stan James.

There had been considerable speculation regarding Martin Johnson’s potential final team selection. Certainly the side struggled against Italy in a game where they repeatedly made major errors and only won the game by what could be considered to be more luck than judgement. In the end he decided to make no changes at all and for the first time since he took the job as coach he is playing an identical fifteen.

Since the game against Italy Wilkinson in particular has had to endure some severe criticism for the way in which he failed to lead play and his sudden lack of ability to kick the ball. Wilkinson has said that he can shrug off this criticism from outside, but what was more difficult to handle was his internal criticism.

Johnson has described the current side as “Work in progress” and that he thought that the criticism that Wilkinson had been receiving was unfair. Coach Brian Smith has also defended Wilkinson. He said that Jonny enjoyed the total support of both himself and the rest of the team. He pointed out that despite the kicking failures Jonny’s late drop goal had put the team back in the game and that he had been very much involved in scoring the winning try.

Brian Smith also slated the media saying that much of it was made up former players who were hired to provide sound bites, and writers who didn’t know enough about rugby to justify their criticisms.

With odds of 20/21 being offered by Boylesports, England remain the marginal favourites to win against Ireland this weekend.

Andy Murray is still the favourite to win the championship and is priced at 5/4 by Stan James.

The current champion Nikolay Davydenko had a very difficult time in his second round match against the Frenchman Florent Serra. He lost the first set 6-7 following a tiebreak and in the second set his serve was nearly broken on several occasions though he managed to hang on and win the next two sets 6-4, 6-1.

Not withstanding this hiccup, Nikolay Davydenko remains the second favourite for the championship at 7/2 with Stan James.

Meanwhile the French Open winner and Wimbledon champion Rafael Nadal, not playing in the tournament due to a damaged knee, has been finding some action elsewhere. He has been shooting a quite edgy video with Shakira, the singer and pop star from Columbia. In the video that goes with her latest release ‘Gypsy’, Shakira, clad in little else other than a semi-transparent scarf, and Nadal hold hands and gaze into each others eyes.

VIP guests at the ATP include many members of the England cricket team. They watched a centre court match between Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Michael Llodra which Tsonga won before joining tennis players for an open air party on the lawns of the Aviation Club.

To win at Formula One requires a special relationship between man and machine. That is certainly what Jenson Button and his Brawn GP car had during the 2009 season, at least for the first half of the season during which time he laid down sufficient victories to secure the title. Jenson had worked on the development of the car for several years when the team was Honda. The recruitment of Ros Brawn was the catalyst and when he took control of the team following the departure of Honda he was finally able to create a car for Jenson that Jenson described as a monster car.

A similar relationship between man and machine accounted for Lewis Hamilton’s championship win in 2008 and his near win in 2007, his first year in F1. Hamilton had worked with McLaren since he was a boy. He had been the protégé of Ron Dennis, the then team principal, and had more or less grown up with McLaren racing cars. When he stepped up to Formula One, it was apparent from the start that he was at one with his car.

It seems that now a similar relationship is developing between Fernando Alonso and his Ferrari F10. He says that it is the best car that he has ever driven. That he was at home with the car was apparent from the first few laps that drove. In practice the car has not been the fastest on the track, but he said that they had not yet carried out low fuel level testing; all their laps had been with significant fuel levels.

Certainly many pundits think that he is poised to take the championship this year. Odds on this are being offered at 16/5 by BetFred with Lewis Hamilton the second favourite at odds of 5/1.

For those of you who are new to the Winter Olympics speed skating is a sport that began on the Dutch canals and used iron skates on wooden soles. It was used primarily used as a means of transportation. It is the single fastest sport in the world that is entirely human powered and has no mechanical properties. Many of the professionals who don’t live in areas cold enough for skating, including Shani Davis, start out rollerblading as a child. Speed skating takes place on a 400m rink similar to an athletics track. Athletes take part in pairs, racing each other but also trying to get the fastest time out of all the competitors.

Having the best acceleration and having a fast start is essential as it gives the athlete a huge advantage over the rest of the course because due to the lack of friction between the skates and the ice it is far easier to maintain high speed than build it up from scratch. It is an endurance event more than a sprint, so athletes are better at some different distamnce races than others, much like track events at the regular Olympics.

Speed Skating is not dissimilar in viewing to the cycling events Britain did so well in so those who are new to the Winter Olympics and are looking for some regularity should definitely give speed skating a watch.

Team-mate and double silver medallist Julia Mancuso has odds of 3/1 with William Hill to get a podium finish and make it three from three. Germany’s best chance of gaining on the America at the top of the medals table is Maria Riesch who has odds of 6/1 to win with bet365.

There is much hype back home about 25 year old Lindsey Vonn; the American media has already dubbed the Olympics the ‘Winter Olympics at Vonncouver’. She has been skiing from an early age; learning at the age of 3 and beginning to race at the age of 7. At 14 years old she became the first American female ever to ever win Italy’s Trofeo Topolino contest and she describes this as her proudest ever sporting achievement.

“When I won the Trofeo Topolino race at the age of 14. Back then everyone put so much hype on that race – it was like the mini-Olympics. To watch that with my grandpa and dad there was incredible.”

She is being described as the best Overall Alpine Skier for her gender in the world and has been on top of the World Cup rankings in every section of Alpine Skiing for the past two years. One thing is for certain; any event that involves Lindsey Vonn is definitely worth watching.