Free £100 Natwest Series spread bet

The birds are singing, the bees are buzzing... all is rosy in the garden of English cricket at present. Following on from their triumphant Caribbean crusade and a 3-0 rout of the Kiwis, Michael Vaughan's troops now turn their attention back to the one-day game. Can they maintain their new lease of life in the Natwest Series, where they lock horns with the West Indies and New Zealand?

If you're considering having a punt on the series, or indeed any individual match or player, Sporting Index are currently offering a choice of free bets to all new account holders, including:

Home advantage
England may have dominated proceedings during recent Test clashes with their Natwest Series opponents, but the Windies and New Zealand are both looking to maintain ODI winning streaks. While the Calypso kings arrive in England after whitewashing Bangladesh last month, New Zealand go in search of their sixth successive limited overs win, after thrashing South Africa earlier in the year.

Wise words
When asked about the Natwest Series, Sporting Index's Senior Cricket Trader said "This series looks to be a well balanced affair, with all 3 teams occupying the mid-table of one day outfits. England, however, will be well fancied to win, given their home advantage and the fact that they have beaten both visiting teams quite comfortably in recent test series.

"The shortened form of the game is, of course, a very different discipline and the hosts have yet to prove they can live up to expectations in the one day arena. All three teams are reliant on their star individuals coming to the party, so keep an eye on the form of Cairns (NZ), Gayle (WI) and, assuming that he is fit enough, Freddie Flintoff. The success of these players will be crucial to their team's fortunes."

What to bet on
Sporting Index will be betting all ten matches Live In-Running, including betting on Supremacies, 1st 15 Overs Runs, Batsmen Runs and Team Runs. They have a huge range of markets to bet on, such as Player's Series Runs. For example, they are currently predicting that Andrew Strauss will score between 180 and 200 runs in this series. You now have a choice to make:

Will Strauss score MORE than a total of 200 runs? Or

Will Strauss score LESS than a total of 180 runs?

If you believe that he is capable of bagging plenty of runs, then you would "buy" (bet high) at 200 runs for a stake of, say, £2 per run. If he plays in four matches, getting 32, 94, 47 and 80 then his total would be 253 runs. You would therefore win (253 - 200) x £2 = 53 x £2 = £106.

On the other hand, if he had only managed a total of 180 runs and you had bought at 200, then you would lose (200 - 180) x £2 = £20 x £2 = £40.

That's basically all there is to spread betting!