James Anderson s 300^th Test wicket (81 Tests) wasn’t enough to hold back New Zealand’s determined effort to win the 1^st Test at Lords, at start of play today Paddy Power was still offering 11/1 on a tourist win, while I think a close look at the weekend weather forecast may lead to a draw.

Cricket Memorabilia from this series will be very collectable and signings are taking place during the series, of particular interest to collectors are signed cricket bats, scorecards, autographs and tour itineraries.

England need to concentrate on getting NZ out for under 232 followed by a big 2ind innings, the bowling talents of Southee Wagner and Boult who seem more than capable of restricting runs and getting wickets will not make things easy

Ian Botham still remains England’s leading wicket taker on 383 followed by Bob Willis and Fred Trueman.

Cricket Collectables pertaining to any of the Top 10 bowlers is a great way to start a memorabilia collection.

Tony Selby

This has nothing to do with racing anymore. This is a competition in Tyre management.
interesting comments from Red Bull!!!

Joe Root has just been dismissed on the fourth morning at Grace Road, but not before taking his season tally to 646 runs and raising the prospect of an England batsman achieving a 1000 first-class runs before the end of May.

Cricket memorabilia will be available from the Lions series and the forthcoming Test matches, of particular interest to fans are cricket autographs. Signed cricket bats, tour paraphernalia and signed scorecards.

The main event England v New Zealand is due to start on Thursday at Lords and Root’s dominance at Leicester is sure to confirm the selectors decision, with a number of other Lions players starting to make their mark.

New Zealand start as 9/1 outsiders for the first test with the home side 15/8 on if the weather is anything like today at Leicester, I would take the draw at 2/1, check the forecast.

The reasoning behind what may be generous odds on New Zealand seems to be despite the fact that they started the tour well recording an easy win over Derbyshire, they have not had a win at Lords in the last 14 years and only 4 wins in the last 84 years.

The England bowling sequence with James Anderson likely to be joined by a fit Stuart Broad and Steven Finn will make for an interesting Test series.

Over the winter months Nick Compton cricket memorabilia became increasingly popular he has played a total of 7 Test Matches scoring 440 runs in his 13 innings, he seems to have an ever increasing following of fans and is sure to do well this season.

Tony Selby

Good to see Lancs 2nd hitting form so early in the season

Lancashire's 2ndXI have built up a big lead against Yorkshire on an extraordinary day at Scarborough where Jordan Clark hit 6 sixes in an over

Lancashire v Yorkshire

Congratulations on Welshman Jamie Donaldson becoming the 24^th player to “hole in one” at the Masters, he achieved this at the par 3, sixth hole following on from American Chris Di Marco in 2004, his prize for this achievement is an engraved crystal bowl unless he put a bet which is not worth as much as you might think.

Sporting autographs associated with events like this are always sought after and a signed 6^th pin flag by Donaldson would be fine.

Surprisingly a hole in one attracts relatively close odd, at the 16^th they can be as short as 6/4 (a 170 yard par 3)

This years Masters is shaping up well hopefully there will be the usual abundance of Golf memorabilia

Tony Selby

Tiger Woods looks to have an excellent chance of winning the Masters starting at Augusta on Thursday, now No 1 and putting better than ever he may well win the seasons first Major after a five year drought. Tiger has not won at Augusta since 2005 when he pipped Chris DiMarco in a play-off which earned him his fourth Masters title.

Golf Memorabilia associated with the Masters is always in demand of particluar interest to me are Pin flags,  Sports Autographs, Signed Presentations and  match scorecards,photos etc

Will be interesting to see how Tianlang Guam plays especially off the tee, considering his short drive of only around 250 yards. On Monday Guan played a practice round with Tiger Woods  and tomorrow he plays a  round  with Tom Watson, he will be well worth watching for the future.

The odds on Tiger Woods at 4/1 are with PP which seem pretty generous however  I am backing Justin Rose 18/1 ew to be wearing the green jacket on Sunday

There has been a big interest in Tiger Woods sports memorabilia for years now and it would good to see some of the new younger names (Guam) performing well this week.

Tony Selby

Maybe it was against team rules but still best  F1 dust up for 2 years!!

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Jimmy Anderson is looking at the New Zealand v England Test at Eden Park as a further step towards becoming England’s leading wicket taker.

Anderson needs only 3 wickets to surpass Derek Underwood’s tally of 297 wickets before concentrating on the top 3 bowlers. As he moves in the direction of Ian Botham’s record of 383 wickets taken over a total of 102 matches he is not helped by the New Zealand surfaces which have so far been flat and relatively unresponsive.

Cricket memorabilia from the New Zealand v England Test and ODI series is very popular especially signed cricket bats and match used cricket balls, so far this winter in the Southern Hemisphere has been excellent for both.

Having averaged an enviable 30 wickets per year so far it is really about all about how long he can continue playing at Test level. Best of luck to him.

It is interesting to note the following stats:

Ian Botham                   383 wickets per 102 matches played (28.4)

Bob Willis                      325 wickets per 90   matches played (25.2)

Freddie Trueman         307 wickets per 67 matches played (21.5)

Derek Underwood      297 wickets per 86 matches played (25.8

Jimmy Anderson         295 wickets per 79 matches played (30.4)

As is evident from the bowling averages my number one bowler Freddie Trueman comes in first as expected with an average of 21.5 and note that he only played 67 matches to achieve 307 wickets.

Without Kevin Peterson tomorrow England have it all to do, anyway let’s hope the rain keeps off and that the wicket for the deciding Test of the series at Eden Park, offers more to the bowlers.

Tony Selby 

Ominous sign for the Kiwis
Nick Compton Cricket Memorabilia
New Zealand v England at Wellington 1st Innings
As I said earlier in the week watch Nick Compton at Wellington and Eden park sure enough he puts in another match winning performance scoring score, back to back centuries in both Dunedin and Wellington.
The Kiwis seem to have misjudged the wicket putting England in to bat
Cricket Memorabilia associated with Compton will be sought after in the future and now is a good time to start collecting.
Jonathon Trott did not disappoint with 121 and it seems as if Peterson could soon be back to the big scores having clocked up 73 runs before becoming left arm spinner Bruce Martins second wicket.
Keeper Matt Prior added another 82 from 99 balls, caught Wagner bowled by Williamson, England ended the Innings on 465 all out.
At time of writing NZ are already in trouble at 66/3 with Broad 2 wickets for 18 runs and Anderson 1/17, some good bats to come in so hopefully they can make an interesting match.
Nick Compton looks in with an excellent chance of selection, for the forthcoming Ashes Series starting on July 10th at Trent Bridge, any Cricket Autographs, Signed Tour Itineraries, official Signed programmes and scorecards are well worth collecting.

Scorecard to date
Tony Selby

Fernando has a great chance this season, if the 2013 Ferrari lives up to its practice sessions at Jerez and Barcelona.
9/2 looks good odds for an opening win in Melbourne Latest F1 News

Should  be a great season for Motorsport Memorabilia

Tony Selby