16/1 Pietersen Power To Out Hit Ireland Team

Bookmakers William Hill are unable to split South Africa and Sri Lanka when they meet in the crucial Super 8 stage of the World Cup and offer 5/6 both teams.

Muralitharan is the 4/1 favourite to be the top wicket taker in the match with Ntini offered at 5/1 and former Captain Shaun Pollock an 11/2 shot. Jack Kallis is the 3/1 favourite to top score for South Africa, with Jayasuriva the 3/1 favourite to top score for Sri Lanka.

England are offered at 1/3 to fail to qualify for the semi finals but Hill's expect an easy victory against Ireland with England offered at 1/12 and Ireland at 6/1. William Hill also offer 16/1 that Pietersen scores more runs than the Ireland team and 200/1 that any England player scores 36 runs in an over.

"So far Ireland is a bigger loser than England for Friday's match, but we expect the big boys to pile in on England later in the week. Newly crowned number one batsman Kevin Pietersen has been popular to be England's top run scorer with the rest of the team friendless," said William Hill's spokesman Rupert Adams.