Lions backed to roar

A very strange thing has been happening at the beginning of this week in betting shops around the country as England are being well backed to win the ICC Twenty20 World Cup following their ODI triumph over India.

The Three Lions tied up a 4-3 win at Lord's on Saturday courtesy of a match-winning partnership from Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood and punters believe they can now carry their good form into the shorter version of the game.

Paul Collingwood's men, who face Zimbabwe in their opening match on Thursday, are 8/1 fifth favourites to lift the trophy, despite the team consisting of a combination of internationals who have not played much Twenty20 cricket and non-internationals who have. They are at the same mark as India and behind Australia, hosts South Africa, Sri Lanka and New Zealand. West Indies, bettingchoice's pick to go the whole way, are available at 10/1.

Ladbrokes spokesman Robin Hutchison said: "England are a five figure loser for us before a ball has been bowled and optimism is very high. There's also been good money for South Africa around given their defeat of Australia in the warm-up games but we expect the Aussies to bounce back."

Ladbrokes rate the chances of an England player scoring a century during the tournament at 3/1 and a hat-trick at 16/1. Bowler Jeremy Snape has taken a hat-trick this season for Leicestershire in this format and Luke Wright has scored a century for Sussex.

New Zealand paceman Shane Bond, who starred at the recent one-day World Cup in West Indies, is the 14/1 favourite to finish top tournament wicket-taker.

Australians Brett Lee, Nathan Bracken and Brad Hogg are next in the betting at 16/1, 16/1 and 20/1, with England's James Anderson and James Kirtley both available at 33/1.

Latest Betting: Australia 7/4; South Africa 5/1; Sri Lanka 6/1; New Zealand 7/1; England 8/1; India 8/1; Pakistan 10/1; West Indies 10/1; Bangladesh 40/1; Zimbabwe 250/1; Kenya 500/1; Scotland 1000/1 (Ladbrokes)

Top England Runscorer: Kevin Pietersen 5/2; Darren Maddy 5/1; Luke Wright 5/1; Paul Collingwood 5/1; Matthew Prior 6/1; Owais Shah 8/1; Vikram Solanki 8/1; Andrew Flintoff 10/1

(Editor's Note: If England were to go all the way it would be a shock, especially with a mixed bag of a team. Can they do it?  Follow the latest Twenty20 World Cup prices on Ladbrokes!)