Too close to call in St Kitts

A slight slowing of the pace is in store for Thursday at the World Cup as we have two matches that hold no relevance to what happens in the Super Eight stage. New Zealand, already qualified for the next phase, take on already eliminated Canada, while Scotland and the Netherlands compete to see who gets the wooden spoon in their group.

With New Zealand already through, captain Stephen Fleming and some of the other senior players in the side may well be rested with the next stage in mind.

That makes it a non-match in betting terms, to my mind at least, so anyone who wants a bet on Thursday should focus on St Kitts, where there is the not-so-small matter of pride to play for when Scotland take on the Netherlands.

From the efforts of both sides in their two previous matches, against Australia and South Africa, it's hard to see who should be favourite for this one but bet365 give Scotland the nod, making them 4/6 (1.66) while the Dutch are a 6/5 (2.20) chance.

Scotland played pretty well against South Africa on Tuesday while Holland were not disgraced in either of their matches but this one really does look too close to call.

Who will hit top form with the bat?
Gavin Hamilton and vice-captain Ryan Watson share favouritism to be Scotland's top runscorer, at 9/2, while Majid Haq and Fraser Watts are 5/1.

Scotland have not had too many strong partnerships at the top of the order yet and while the Dutch attack is nowhere near as strong as Australia's or South Africa's, it could pay to look further down the order for value.

Dougie Brown, who hit a good 45 at the end of the innings on Tuesday, is 6/1 while Neil McCallum, captain Craig Wright and Navdeep Poonia are all 7/1.

For the Netherlands, their classiest batsman, Ryan ten Doeschate, is the favourite at 11/4 while Darron Reekers and Bas Zuiderent are both 9/2.

Daan van Bunge, Alexei Kervezee and Tim de Leede are 11/2, 6/1 and 13/2 respectively.

Possibly the best bet, though, could be to back the Netherlands to outscore Scotland in the first 10 overs, at 9/10.

As said, Scotland's strength appears not to be at the top of the order so try the Dutch to come good.