Weekly Articles "Road to Riches" by Rich 'Tighty' Prew
The Road to Riches Weekend of 28th February- 1st March
Coming up this weekend
- Horse Racing, Over the jumps at Doncaster, Kelso and Newbury and on the all- weather at Lingfield and Southwell.
- Football, Premier League fixtures include Arsenal v Chelsea.
- Cricket, The final stages of the Super 8's at the T20 World Cup in India/Sri Lanka.
- Golf, the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Puerto Rico Open on the USPGA and the Joburg Open on the DP World Tour
- Tennis, ATP BNP Open at Indian Wells
Cheltenham Festival
Cheltenham Festival Tues 10th - Fri 13th March 2026 (Package) - all our write ups and bets £199 here.
Free Tip
Cricket: T20 World Cup Super 8’s Group 1 India v West Indies Kolkota Sunday 1.30pm
In Group 1 of the Super 8’s in this T20 World Cup South Africa have qualified for the last four having beaten India then the West Indies comfortably and will have high hopes of defending their title as the last unbeaten team in the tournament. Their qualification means this game on Sunday is a knockout game to reach the semi-finals. With Zimbabwe to come in their last Super 8 game, South Africa are likely to win Group 1.
India and the West Indies both won their groups to Qualify for the Super 8s in the much tougher Group 1 with four pool stage winners with four wins from 4, at times the West Indies playing in the fashion of their 2016 T20 World Cup winning side.
After six games the West Indies have hit 66 sixes in this competition, India 65, the West Indies 7 more than South Africa and the West Indies innings against South Africa on Thursday was a typical one. They struggled to 83-7 with 49 dot balls before striking 11 sixes in a record eighth wicket partnership to set South Africa 177. Romario Shepherd became the first player to score a fifty batting at No. 9 in any T20 World Cup.
No one has hit more sixes in this tournament than the West Indies Shrimron Hetmyer. At times in a 320-match T20 career, he has flattered to deceive but seven times in his last 10 T20I innings, all in the last month, he has reached 40 having been moved to number three in the batting line-up.
His career T20 stats are an average of 28.6 and a strike rate of 146.8. Batting at 3, his average is 54.75 with a strike rate of 185.59.
Hetmyer is the top West Indies run scorer so far in the tournament:
Hetmyer 221 runs
Hope 185
Rutherford 169
Rest 115 and under.
Playing the hosts in Kolkota is of course a tough ask, notably batting against the brilliant Bumrah and leg-break bowler Varun Chakravarthy with 11 wickets so far in the competition second most in tournament. This is reflected in outright odds of India 2/7 West Indies 11/4.
Hetmyer isn’t the favourite in the Top West Indies batsman market, and I think he should be.
10 points Shimron Hetmyer Top West Indies batsman at 7/2 SkyBet, PaddyPower, 3/1 Bet365, William Hill, BetVictor, Ladbrokes/Coral.
Superbowl reflections.
Super Bowl LX a fortnight ago was overwhelmingly a defensive battle. The game had 15 punts, 5 field goal attempts (all converted) and just 3 offensive touchdowns (all passes).Neither team had a rushing attempt inside the opponents’ 5-yard line and the two Quarterbacks combined for 35 incomplete passes. The longest play from scrimmage for either team was just 35 yards and the 2 teams combined for 691 yards of punts, which is more than the 666 yards of total offense in the game.
In particular, Seattle’s defense dominated. New England’s first half possessions were: Punt, Punt, Punt, Punt, Punt, kneel-down. To begin the second half New England went: 3 and out, 3 and out, 3 and out, fumble.
The game saw the first running back MVP since in 28 years after Kenneth Walker had 155 yards from scrimmage and 135 of those rushing on 27 carries. This was not predicted! This was the best running back performance against New England since Week 18 of the 2023 season.
Through the season Walker had been a frustrating watch sharing time with Zach Charbonnet. Charbonnet’s late season injury thrust Walker into a completely full-time role far fresher than if he had been the full lead back all season. In the Super Bowl he was particularly successful on outside zone runs and now hits free agency having made himself a lot of money in the game.
Including the run game successes the Seahawks had an offensive success rate of just 32.4% in the Super Bowl their worst in any game this season.
On the other side of the ball Seattle’s defense put New England’s Quarterback Drake Maye, poorly protected particularly by the left-hand side of the offensive line, in a blender. With their staple approach of being able to create pressure with just their four defensive linemen they were able to confused the young Quarterback by showing man coverage pre-snap then dropping into zone coverage as the ball reached the Quarterback’s hands.
Maye had the 6th-worst EPA/dropback in a Super Bowl since 2000. His three worst games of the season in terms of total offensive EPA came in the last three games of the season.
Play-calling was also an issue. Maye threw just one screen all night, and it came with 12 seconds left in the fourth quarter. He was rolled out of the pocket once all game and was asked to operate from a straight drop-back 44 times. Play action showed up on only six of his 53 drop-backs — a 11.3% rate that sat well below his 24% usage over the full season. Possibly affected by a shoulder injury his rushing was also more limited than expected. Seven sacks, two interceptions and a forced fumble told the story of a night where Maye rarely had a chance to set his feet, let alone settle in.
The Seahawks ran a pass stunt on 45.3% of their pass-rush snaps, the third-highest rate in a Super Bowl. Seattle converted 42.9% of its total pressures into sacks, an unusually high rate, and finished with seven sacks, three quarterback hits and 14 additional hurries.
In commentary 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan, who played the Seahawks three times this season said “If you can’t run the ball, they’ll keep their two safeties very deep, they’re going to give up no explosives. I’ve looked for two years, you can’t get the explosives unless you run the ball, unlock them, bring (the safeties) up”.
Seattle allowed -0.329 EPA per play, which ranks as the third-best Super Bowl defensive performance since 2006. This was the culmination of nailing several drafts and free agency in the last off-season including pivoting away from Quarterback Geno Smith to Sam Darnold, who barely played in 2022-23 (seven total starts) and has now been part of 34 wins since leaving the Jets in 2021.
The Seattle defense was so good that that even as Darnold had his lowest completion percentage of the season (50%), second-worst yards per attempt (5.3), overthrew JSN for a potential 86-yard touchdown, also threw behind him for a potential 23-yard score before the half that the Seahawks comfortably won the Super Bowl by 16 points!
Mike MacDonald became the first Super Bowl winning coach who was also the defense’s play-caller and the third youngest Super Bowl winning Head coach.
The Patriots won 4 games last year and entered this year with a projected win total of 8.5 (which baked in an easy schedule). The team was dependent on multiple rookies and a 23-year-old Quarterback. Whatever the short-term disappointment of losing, they are ahead of schedule in their turn around from the post Brady/Belichick years. 2026 should be tougher though playing the schedule of a first placed team and picking late in the draft.
Betting Emporium results
The detailed results page was updated on 1st October 2025. They can be found by clicking RESULTS
If you bet £10 per point on every recommended bet since launch you would be inning + £65,159 All bets have an ROI +2.45%
A £4000 bank betting £10 a point on all selections would now be worth £69,158, a 1629% increase.
The Road to Riches Weekend of 21st-22nd February
Coming up this weekend
- Horse Racing, Over the jumps at Ascot, Haydock and Wincanton and on the all- weather at Lingfield and Newcastle.
- Football, the Fourth Round of the FA Cup.
- Rugby Union, Round Three of the Six Nations
- Cricket, The T20 World Cup in India continues
- Olympics, the conclusion of the Winter Olympics in Cortina, Italy
- Golf, the Genesis Invitational on the USPGA and the Kenya Open on the DP World Tour
- Tennis, ATP Opens in Delray Beach, Qatar and Rio
Cheltenham Festival
Cheltenham Festival Tues 10th - Fri 13th March 2026 (Package) - all our write ups and bets £199 here.
Free Tip
Six Nations Round 3: England v Ireland Saturday 2.10pm
England fell back to earth in Edinburgh last weekend, losing 31-20 their largest margin of defeat since losing 29-10 to Ireland in a 2023 World Cup Warm-Up and their worst Six Nations defeat since a 29-13 loss against Ireland also in 2023. It was their fifth Calcutta Cup loss in six years, and their first loss in 13 games.
England were down 14 points early on, spent 30 minutes of the game down to 14 men and their predictable kicking strategy left them exposed to Finn Russell-inspired counterattacks. They missed 21 tackles in the first half alone and 31 overall against 15 the week before against Wales.
Above this, England’s attack was also one-dimensional averaging a woeful 1.4 points from 12 entries into the opposition 22 with just two tries scored and they conceded a whopping 18 turnovers. Important mistakes from Genge in defense and Ford’s charged down dropped goal led to big swings in the game. England only won back six out of 19 contestable kicks, and one of those 'wins' led to Earl being bundled straight into touch.
Big picture England now have three key away games ahead of the 2027 World Cup in which to establish themselves as a contender for that tournament and need to win one or more of them: France away at the end of this Six Nations, South Africa away in the new Nations Championship this summer and Ireland away in next year’s Six Nations, where they haven’t won since 2019.
Shorter term England are 12.5-point favourites, having opened -13.5, to bounce back with a win against an Ireland side in flux. Ireland’s last four matches against top 5 ranked opposition have seen losses by 17, 13, 11 and 22 points. Both teams have looked leggy in the first two rounds of this Championship, possibly a legacy of the two teams providing the bulk of the Lions tourists last summers and temporary victims of rugby’s punishing schedule that has seen injuries for both sides since the tour and drops in form for key players who have remained healthy. This could be compounded this week, normally a rest week for the Six Nations but in a shorter tournament this year a third game in succession for both sides.
Coach Andy Farrell is having to do a part-rebuild quite late in a World Cup cycle with their core of players approaching veteran status, key players like Jonny Sexton a couple of years retired and what was a previously fruitful Academy conveyor belt from the A and U20 teams struggling to produce ready-made successors.
The result is seen in team selections that tend to mix and match between generations. There were six changes from the Round 1 defeat in Paris to the Round 2 20-13-point win in Dublin against Italy. 8 of the Irish Lions from the Summer 2025 tour were not selected, and Italy were a try-scoring forward pass and the bounce of a ball from a chip-through away from a famous away win.
Against Italy fly-half Jack Crowley’s impact off the bench helped bring the win home after starting 10’s Sam Prendergast’s limitations were exposed again, and whilst the victory stops the bleeding it hardly suggested Ireland have rediscovered their best form.
England have made five changes from last week and should be punchier in midfield with the return of Lawrence and have more firepower out wide with Freeman back on the wing. Pollock starts for the first time in the back row. Ireland start Crowley over Prendergast.
England of course should win, and the point total this weekend is 47.5, but +12.5 feels strong for what after all is a match between the third and fourth world ranked sides with the modern game having a greater variance/element of lottery in the aerial contest high balls under the new laws, which we saw play out in Edinburgh last weekend. For example England full back Freddie Steward is probably the pre-eminent player at his position under the high ball. His defensive catch success is down from 87% to 70% in Internationals this season under the new rules.
11 points Ireland +12.5 points at 10/11 generally.
Hundreds
The Hundred's squads are currently being overhauled ahead of the 2026 season in a "reset" evoking the IPL's mega-auction, marking the arrival of new investors in the eight franchises.
A handful of men's players signed contracts this year aligning with the competition’s new investors- such as Rashid Khan at the Invincibles (Reliance) and Steven Smith at Welsh Fire (Washington Freedom) and that trend is likely to accelerate, with the four IPL owners involved seeking greater continuity across their global networks of franchises.
The risk of a "reset" is that significant player turnover will further dilute the identities of teams that have only existed for five years. The Hundred will undergo significant change over the next 11 months, with centralised kit manufacture (New Balance) and sponsorship (KP Snacks) deals expiring. Three team names have also changed.
For example therefore a Surrey fan who has begun to appreciate the Oval Invincibles, now has to support MI London with many of the team’s most successful players for the Hundred’s most successful team leaving for other teams in the off-season. Of course the main aim is to grow the sport and attract new fans, but grumbles from existing fans are loud.
The long term ambition of the new investors is that the Hundred rivals other great summer sporting events in general and the IPL within cricket. Many believe this is only possible if the Hundred becomes a T20 tournament. The 100-ball format does have some advantages, it suits the double-header model well, shaving an hour off each matchday, and fits into a tighter broadcast window, but has also proved unexpectedly bowler-friendly.
Slow pitches remain a concern, with ground staff stretched by the sheer volume of fixtures staged at major venues by the time the Hundred starts.
Teams were allowed up to four pre-auction signings from mid-November to the end of January. A maximum of three could be direct signings, either an overseas or England centrally-contracted player, while a minimum of one was a retention of a player in a team's 2025 squad. Signings so far as follows:
Birmingham Phoenix: Rehan Ahmed (England), Jacob Bethell (England), Donovan Ferreira (South Africa), Mitchell Owen (Australia)
Manchester Super Giants: Noor Ahmad (Afghanistan), Jos Buttler (England), Liam Dawson (England), Heinrich Klaasen (South Africa)
MI London: Sam Curran (England), Will Jacks (England), Rashid Khan (Afghanistan), Nicholas Pooran (West Indies)
Southern Brave: Jofra Archer (England), Jamie Smith (England), Marcus Stoinis (Australia), Tristan Stubbs (South Africa)
Sunrisers Leeds: Harry Brook (England), Brydon Carse (England), Nathan Ellis (Australia), Mitchell Marsh (Australia)
Trent Rockets: Tom Banton (England), Tim David (Australia), Ben Duckett (England), Mitchell Santner (New Zealand)
Welsh Fire: Marco Jansen (South Africa), Rachin Ravindra (New Zealand), Phil Salt (England), Chris Woakes (England)
The Hundred auction will take place in March.
Betting Emporium results
The detailed results page was updated on 1st October 2025. They can be found by clicking RESULTS
If you bet £10 per point on every recommended bet since launch you would be inning + £65,159 All bets have an ROI +2.45%
A £4000 bank betting £10 a point on all selections would now be worth £69,158, a 1629% increase.
The Road to Riches Weekend of 14th-15th February
Coming up this weekend
- Horse Racing, Over the jumps at Ascot, Haydock and Wincanton and on the all- weather at Lingfield and Newcastle.
- Football, the Fourth Round of the FA Cup.
- Rugby Union, Round Two of the 2026 Six Nations
- Cricket, The T20 World Cup in India continues
- Olympics, the Winter Olympics continues in Cortina, Italy
- Golf, the Genesis Invitational on the USPGA and the Kenya Open on the DP World Tour
- Tennis, ATP Opens in Delray Beach, Qatar and Rio
Cheltenham Festival
Cheltenham Festival Tues 10th - Fri 13th March 2026 (Package) - all Neil Channing's write ups and bets £199 here
Free Tip
Six Nations
Scotland v England Saturday 4.40pm
England went off in their opening Six Nations game -30 against Wales and won by 41 points. Wales were miserable, by far the worst team in the competition (and in their history) so offered little resistance or proper preparation for England’s trip to Scotland this weekend.
In coach Steve Borthwick’s 41 Tests to date, he has just seven away wins, discounting those taken on neutral territory in France during the 2023 World Cup. They are against Wales (twice), Italy, Japan, Argentina (twice) and the United States. The Argentina wins last summer with a second choice team were excellent victories but between two teams shorn of stars, so Borthwick is still yet to achieve a marquee scalp outside Twickenham.
What plays into England’s favour in this tournament, particularly when we reach rounds 3-5 is this year’s shortened schedule with one less rest weekend and England’s depth will enable them to rotate and withstand inevitable injuries compared to the other home nations. For starters, their team against Wales contained 5 British Lions on the bench and we saw last Autumn in close games these types of players could act as “closers” to secure victories.
England are now on a run of 12 consecutive victories and this is a key game in the run up to the 2027 World Cup. England haven’t won at Murrayfield for six years (and only twice since 2016) and whatever the trials and tribulations of this Scottish team, we know they will raise their game in a hostile atmosphere.
Optimism about Scotland before the tournament started centred on the bulk of the side being derived from the Glasgow Warriors who have beaten both Toulouse and Saracens in the European Cup this season and are currently four points clear of Leinster in the URC.
For all their qualities inconsistency has been a real problem, they’ve finished fourth in successive Six Nations tournaments with two wins and three losses each year.
Then last weekend came the 18-15 loss to Italy in Rome, albeit the terrible weather conditions were a complete leveller.
Head Coach Gregor Townsend is in his ninth Six Nations and the team is struggling to make the progress the talent would suggest. It’s rumoured that Townsend will be off to coach the newly minted Newcastle Red Bulls but another bad tournament may bring that timeline forward.
In last season's Six Nations Scotland ranked second of six in terms of visits to a rival's 22 and yet sixth of six in terms of points gained from those visits. Profligacy and mental fragility has been a problem.
One short term issue is that the rule changes around contesting kicks (you can’t escort the catcher and blocker advancing attackers, thus there is a genuine aerial contest far more often in a match) meant that last weekend for the first time since February 2019 that a Scotland Six Nations XV has not featured Duhan van der Merwe, Darcy Graham or Blair Kinghorn, all brilliant attacking threats and all left out due, in part, to their issues in the air. None of those absences though account for the very poor scrum and line out performance in the terrible Italian conditions.
Another issue is lack of bench depth where the starting XV may well be competitive against the big boys but 16-23 can’t maintain the same standard late into games.
The weather forecast is excellent this weekend and in their victories in 2023 and 2024 (which made it four successive Calcutta Cups), Scotland outscored England by a cumulative seven tries to five. These conditions should allow Scotland to move it wide and away from the tight exchanges.
On a slightly contrarian view having watched last weekend’s games I was prepared to put a couple of asterisks against the results for the Rome weather and the weakness of England’s opposition and hoped to see the spread be heavily in England’s favour here and then back Scotland to keep it closer than the consensus expected.
Early this week it was surprising to see Scotland only +7.5 on the handicap for this game, a line that has now moved to +8.5 but I was still hoping for more for the contrarian bet. In the likely conditions I do like the Total points line with Bet365 at over 46.5 points. I expect tries.
11 points Scotland-England over 46.5 points at 10/11 Bet365, 17/20 BetVictor, 5/6 Sky Bet and Paddy Power
The way forward?
For the ninth time in 10 visits England lost the Ashes in Australia by the third Test and for the fourth time in a row. No sporting contest as hyped consistently produces such uncompetitive sport as the Ashes in Australia. Australia have won 17 and drawn 2 of the last 19 Tests v England at home. This century, England have won 4 Tests there and lost 27.
A contest that’s much closer in English conditions has become meat for Australian sides in their own country. They apply the traditional Test match discipline and balance that England have become allergic to, but they win the series before Christmas, relentlessly. This latest victory took them 11 days of the 25 available.
Two two-day Tests this series exposes an issue I think has been lurking for some time and it’s not about pitches. It's about the disappearance of both technique and sufficient concentration skills from the art of batting. Look how often teams have been skittled for ridiculously low tallies over the past decade. I'm finding it harder to believe that T20 is not seriously impacting players' ability to play at Test level.
Among the most awkward and embarrassing aspects of England's Ashes capitulation has been that Australia's batting has been dysfunctional and yet they've still won with plenty of power to add. And that is before you get to the fact that Australia’s bowling has been ravaged by injury
If Australia are in transition and this is their worst team since 2010 England’s red ball team is a mess with lack of contingency or succession plan
You could go on and on diagnosing the disparities between English and Australian methods. Neither country’s cricket board however will want to hear deeper questions raised about whether the Ashes has become unviable as a home-and-away cycle. Cricket in England is no longer set up to produce Test cricketers. To be fair to “Bazball” it sought a synthesis of white and red ball thinking and for a while breathed fresh life into the five-day game. It promised a new way to live for a format under constant commercial and scheduling attack Australia though is its graveyard. There is no scope for England to Bazball in home series and then just worry about the Ashes when it comes around.
What now? Any coach or director of cricket, taking over an England men's team, will struggle with the dysfunctional domestic system and challenges between creating a high-performance environment and keeping players from the franchise circuit. Just sacking a coach and director of cricket probably wouldn't make a lot of difference.
Betting Emporium results
The detailed results page was updated on 1st October 2025. They can be found by clicking RESULTS
If you bet £10 per point on every recommended bet since launch you would be inning + £65,159 All bets have an ROI +2.45%
A £4000 bank betting £10 a point on all selections would now be worth £69,158, a 1629% increase.
The Road to Riches Weekend of 7th-8th February
Coming up this weekend
- Horse Racing, Over the jumps at Newbury, Uttoxeter and Warwick and on the all- weather at Lingfield and Southwell.
- Football, Premier League fixtures include Liverpool v Manchester City.
- Rugby Union, Round One of the 2026 Six Nations
- NFL, the Super Bowl in San Francisco
- Cricket, The start of the T20 World Cup in India.
- Olympics, the start of the Winter Olympics in Cortina, Italy
- Golf, the Pebble Beach Pro-Am on the USPGA
- Tennis, ATP Opens in Buenos Aires, Dallas and Rotterdam
Free Tip
Six Nations
The Six Nations starts on Thursday night, France against Ireland in Paris. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago I wanted to look at Top Points scorer and Top try scorer markets.
Firstly, Top Points scorer. In 2025 Ramos the French full back, a career 85% success rate kicker, scored 71 points, 26 ahead of second place. He is a prohibitive favourite this year at 4/7 for the competition’s odds-on favourite side and given that injury permitting he’ll play all five games for the tournament favourite. England’s George Ford is next at 7/2, Finn Russell at 13/2 and no each-way markets are available.
Turning to Top try scorer, where I regard the five places one-quarter the odds generally available each-way as one of the most attractive each way markets I see most years. In 2025 the brilliant French winger Louis Bielle-Biarrey scored an unbelievable 8 tries, three ahead of Freeman and Sheehan with 5. For an odds-on team in 2026 no surprise to see him 6/4 favourite. My search was for each way value aside from LBB getting five places.
The shape of the market is as follows
LBB 2/1
Sheehan 9/2
Freeman 6/1
Feyi-waboso 6/1
Attissogbe 7/1
Arundell 10/1
Graham 10/1
Lowe 12/1
Sheehan is a prolific try-scorer but Ireland have injury problems and England and France away. Lowe hasn’t been selected for the first game. Freeman is likely to be picked in the centre. I think Roebuck and Arundell will split time on one England wing this Championship.
One of the key themes of modern test rugby is the importance of the aerial game from box kicks since the change of laws to not allow escorts for the defender attempting to catch the ball. This makes for a genuine contest between the winger coming onto the ball and the defender, with many more attacking opportunities arising in this phase of the game as a result. Coincidentally, when teams beat France in 2025, they kicked to contest a lot on top of the French back three.
For France Penaud is not in the six nations Squad and Pau’s Theo Attissogbe is the likely starter at 14. Three tries in two games in his first six nations last year, 5 tries in his first 8 caps overall and playing for the odds-on side this year. 15/2 each-way looks very solid to me.
England meanwhile have three games at home and Exeter’s Manny Feyi-Waboso is on the right wing. He missed last season’s championship and the Lions tour injured. 7 tries in his first 13 England caps, 8 tries in the domestic PREM so far this season and good in the air and playing for a team that could well be in contention for the title when the last game against France in Paris comes around in March. Another solid each-way bet at 6/1
10 points each way Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (1/4 1,2,3,4,5) Top try scorer at 15/2 Sky Bet, Paddy Power Ladbrokes/Coral 6/1 Bet365, Betfred, BetVictor
10 points each way Theo Attissogbe (1/4 1,2,3,4,5) Top try scorer at 17/2 Sky Bet and Paddy Power, 8/1 BetVictor 15/2 Betfred, 7/1 Bet365, Ladbrokes and Coral
Eligibility
If you attend a football game in person or even keep an attentive ear out when watching on TV, you’ll know that when a referee declares, “Number [XX] is an eligible receiver,” it typically means the offense has deployed an additional sixth offensive lineman for the upcoming play.
If you feel like you’ve been hearing that phrase with much more regularity as of late, it’s because you have. Formations with six offensive linemen are one of the hottest commodities in the NFL right now.
It ties in neatly with one of the broader schematic themes of the 2025 season. Offenses have realized that modern NFL defenses have become far too small, prioritising speed over size when evaluating players in recent draft cycles.
We’ve seen an uptick in heavier personnel groupings, with multiple tight end formations prominent among some of the league’s best offenses. To counteract this shift in philosophy, base defense personnel usage (four defensive backs) is on the rise for the first time since 2009 after 15 consecutive seasons of continuous decline.
However, no trend is more noticeable than the resurgence of plays with additional offensive linemen. They now account for around 7% of all snaps you see each weekend. For context, there have been more plays with additional offensive linemen over the past nine weeks of this season than in each of the last four entire regular seasons.
This year, we have also observed the most total six-plus-linemen plays since 2016.
When the opponent brings in an additional big body, defenses could make an educated guess that the offense is going to run the ball, and they’d be correct 73% of the time. However, a further 22% of the time, they’d be fooled by a play-action fake.
This means just 5% of six-lineman sets result in traditional passing drop-backs. That percentage of standard non-play-action passing plays is actually lower than what it typically was back in the mid-2010s, when additional linemen were last in vogue. Perhaps play-callers have become more one-dimensional on these looks by design in an attempt to set up run fakes and strike with chunk plays off of play action.
Of course, this is due in large part to the additional time afforded by the extra blocker in front of the quarterback. Although the extra lineman is defined as an “eligible receiver,” these big fellas rarely intend on putting that status to use. Offensive linemen have run only 40 total routes this season, catching just two passes.
The battle of offense versus defense in the NFL zigs and zags every handful of years. The next big shift is upon us.
Betting Emporium results
The detailed results page was updated on 1st January 2026. They can be found by clicking RESULTS
If you bet £10 per point on every recommended bet since launch you would be winning + £65,244.70 All bets have an ROI +2.41%
A £4000 bank (see FAQ re bank-roll requirements) betting £10 a point on all selections would now be worth £69,244.70 a 1631% increase
The Road to Riches Weekend of 31st January- 1st February
Coming up this weekend
- Horse Racing, Over the jumps at Musselburgh, Sandown and Wetherby and on the all- weather at Lingfield and Newcastle.
- Football, Premier League fixtures include Tottenham v Manchester City.
- Cricket, England’s T20 tour of Sri Lanka continues in Pallakelle.
- Golf, the Phoenix Open on the USPGA and the Qatar Masters on the DP World Tour
- Tennis, ATP Montpellier Open
Free Tip
Cricket: 2026 T20 World Cup Ante-Post
The 10th ICC T20 World Cup hosted by India and Sri Lanka begins on February 7th running until March 8th, beginning with Pakistan and the Netherlands contesting the tournament opener in Colombo.
The T20 World Cup is now a biennial tournament and favourites this time India are defending champions having won in the West Indies in 2024 in the first tournament expanded to 20 teams.
The 20 teams are split into four groups, the top two from each group then play one of two Super 8 groups before the semi-finals and final.
Whilst T20 as a short form format is high variance the size of this competition mitigates that somewhat. A team will have to play nine games to win the tournament.
After Bangladesh’s withdrawal (out of England’s group) the four groups are as follows:
A: India, Pakistan, USA, Netherlands, Namibia
B: Australia, Sri Lanka, Ireland, Zimbabwe, Oman
C: England, West Indies, Nepal, Italy, Scotland
D: New Zealand, South Africa, Afghanistan, Canada, UAE
World Rankings going into the tournament are as follows:
India
Australia
England
New Zealand
South Africa
Pakistan
West Indies
Sri Lanka
Groups A-B-C should be straightforward for the top ranked teams. Group D sees New Zealand and South Africa meet 9th ranked Afghanistan in familiar conditions to them including Rashid Khan having just beaten the West Indies 2-1 in a warm-up series in the UAE, which is a relatively tough draw for all three teams. Afghanistan reached the semi-finals of this tournament two years ago.
Ante-post odds at the time of writing with each-way terms at half the odds 1,2 are
India 11/8
Australia 4
England 5
South Africa 13/2
New Zealand 14
Pakistan 16
West Indies 20
Afghanistan 25
Sri Lanka 40
India are unsurprisingly the pre-tournament favourites to defend their title having established themselves firmly as the dominant force in white-ball cricket over recent years.
They were flawless across both their 2024 T20 World Cup and 2025 Champions Trophy campaigns (only a Travis Head masterclass in the 2023 World Cup final away from holding all three white-ball titles) and have won 10 of their previous 12 bilateral T20 series.
Even without Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma this time around, the squad still looks a formidable one with match-winners in every department.
Australia won this tournament in 2021 but failed to reach the semi-final stage in 2022 and 2024 but did win the 50-over World Cup in 2023 in India. There are still some fitness concerns around their bowling attack and are without Mitchell Starc, who retired from T20I’s last year, but the batting lineup looks a destructive one with plenty of IPL experience to draw upon.
England recently had an excellent series win in tough conditions against a Sri Lanka side that had gone 12 ODI series at home unbeaten before that. England actually suit spin-friendly conditions well in white-ball cricket with lots of all-round spin options and comparably shallow seam-bowling depth. I don’t see a lot of value in them as third favourites though.
South Africa (World Test Champions) had a narrow defeat to India in the 2024 final, needing only 26 runs from 24 balls before capitulating, whilst New Zealand have been runners-up on four occasions across ICC events since 2015 and are a frequent each-way choice for this column as an experienced and under-rated side. The two teams meet in Ahmedabad on February 14 in one of the standout group stage fixtures. New Zealand have warmed up for the tournament in India against the hosts.
Prior to the tournament, eight teams have been seeded for the Super 8 stage based on their T20I rankings: Australia, India, South Africa, and the West Indies in Group 1; England, New Zealand, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka in Group 2 irrespective of their group finishing positions. I think that is good news for New Zealand, Group 2 appears to be a much weaker pot that Group 1.
Even in the unpredictable world of T20 cricket, an underdog winner appears a far stretch in such a lengthy tournament. Afghanistan were the big story from two years ago as they defeated New Zealand and Australia on their way to the final four and they will need to produce similar heroics once again in a difficult-looking Group D.
10 points each-way (1/2 1,2) New Zealand to win the T20 World Cup at 12/1 Betfred, Bet365, Ladbrokes/Coral, BetVictor
F1 in 2026
The new rules being brought in for 2026 are the biggest change in F1 for years and we've seen the cars for the first time this week at Shakedown testing in Barcelona.
Cars are smaller, nimbler and more environmentally friendly. They will be 30kg lighter, 10cm narrower and have engines with a near 50-50 split between electric and internal combustion power and use fully sustainable fuels. Chassis and engine rules have never both been changed at the same time to this extent.
There are new aerodynamic rules, and the power units, while of similar architecture to the past 12 years, have been significantly modified in terms of technology. The engines remain 1.6-litre V6 turbo hybrids, but the MGU-H, which recovers energy from the exhaust and turbo, has been removed, while the proportion of power produced by the hybrid part of the engine has been more or less doubled to about 50%.
This has required major changes to aerodynamics. Not only has the ground effect philosophy introduced in 2022 been abandoned, but movable front and rear wings have been introduced. That's to increase straight-line speed to enable more energy harvesting under braking.
For some time, there have been varying levels of concern expressed by the drivers about how this will affect the racing. The DRS overtaking aid has gone and instead there will be a push-to-pass button that gives extra electrical energy for a time.
The majority of the drivers will remain the same in 2026, but there are a few changes to look out for. Isack Hadjar, makes the step up from Racing Bulls to replace Yuki Tsunoda as Max Verstappen's team-mate at Red Bull. Taking Hadjar's seat at Red Bull's sister team will be 18-year-old Briton Arvid Lindblad.
Ten teams will become eleven this season when Cadillac, backed by US car giant General Motors, joins the grid. Cadillac have opted for experience over youth and chosen ex-Mercedes man Valtteri Bottas and former Red Bull driver Sergio Perez, with 106 podium finishes between them, as their inaugural line-up. The American team will purchase and use power units from Ferrari for their first three seasons, with their own GM-developed engines set to arrive for 2029.
Audi are another new name for this season, having taken over the Sauber team who finished ninth in the 2025 constructors' championship.
Red Bull will begin an engine partnership deal with US car giant Ford, which is part-funding the power-units Red Bull are designing for the new regulations. That brings to an end Red Bull's partnership with Honda. The Japanese manufacturer will now be the works power unit supplier to Aston Martin.There is another significant engine change after Renault ended its F1 power unit programme. Renault's Alpine team will now be paying to use Mercedes engines.
The F1 calendar is once again 24 races starting in Australia in March and ending in Abu Dhabi
Betting Emporium results
The detailed results page was updated on 1st January 2026. They can be found by clicking RESULTS
If you bet £10 per point on every recommended bet since launch you would be winning + £65,244.70 All bets have an ROI +2.41%
A £4000 bank (see FAQ re bank-roll requirements) betting £10 a point on all selections would now be worth £69,244.70 a 1631% increase
