Introduction

Welcome to what I hope will be a successful blog venture.

The first thing anyone who makes a living from gambling will tell you is that specialisation is essential. Knowing as much as there is to know about a small area of a particular sport is the best way to gain an edge. And if you're going to make a profit in the long term, then an edge is certainly what you need.

As a cricket writer, enthusiast and punter, I had assumed that my knowledge of the game would enable me to make a profit out of it. That was true up to a point. But I also found it incredibly time consuming to keep on top of all of the cricket worldwide to the level of detail necessary to bet on, as opposed to writing about, the greatest sport known to man. The fact is there is simply too much cricket these days to keep abreast of. Specialisation is the key. And Twenty20 is the perfect area on which to focus.

For a start, there is just the right amount of Twenty20 cricket to provide sufficient betting opportunities most of the year round. Twenty20 competitions are now established in every major cricket nation. Then there is the Twenty20 World Cup, the Champions League, the IPL and the ICL.

Twenty20 is also relatively new. It was apparent during the last IPL that the bookies were struggling to get a handle on the form. Some of the prices on offer were more fanciful than a Disney movie. Now this won't last forever, but it is a nice little extra edge to have for the time being.

And it is possible to watch pretty much every ball of every Twenty20 contest, something that simply isn't practical for Test cricket, unless you happen to be a reclusive millionaire with no family ties (in which case, well done, but you probably don't need to read on).

So over the next few weeks, I will searching out the best of the available prices on Twenty20 cricket and pointing out some of the better bets. I will be keeping a record of my own betting, all to level stakes, so you can see just how badly (or well) I am faring. Hopefully there might even be some humour along the way.