Cricket: $10,000 bet placed on NZ to take the trophy

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A punter has bet $10,000 that New Zealand will come away with the trophy for the Cricket World Cup, the biggest bet ever made on the team.

The TAB expected to take $1 million of bets for the two games today, the first of the World Cup - New Zealand v Sri Lanka and England v Australia.

Over the course of the tournament about 300,000 bets were expected to be placed.

Bets placed between February 2 and 11am today on New Zealand to win the tournament would be refunded if the Black Caps lose in the final.

The $10,000 bet was made before February 2, so the punter won't get the money back should New Zealand lose the final.

However, two significant bets, one of $5,000 and another of $6,000, were made yesterday for New Zealand to win the tournament, and those will be refunded if New Zealand lose the final.

Support for the home team had been growing steadily, with the team yesterday going from $6 to $5.

In December 2013 when books opened they were at $12 to win, and over 60 per cent of the money bet so far has been for New Zealand.

Ticket sales were going well, with the majority of the first week of matches sold out.

Therese Walsh, head of ICC Cricket World Cup New Zealand, said 300,000 of 400,000 tickets have now been sold.

New Zealand v Sri Lanka in Christchurch was sold out, and yesterday 900 tickets were still on sale for the South Africa v Zimbabwe match in Hamilton.

Ms Walsh said she expected those 900 to be sold before the game.

Tickets remained for Zimbabwe v United Arab Emirates on Thursday in Nelson and Pakistan v West Indies in Christchurch on Saturday.

The other matches next week were all sold out.

"With cricket, a lot of the tickets are walk-ups, so when we can, we will open up an extra 50 or so," Ms Walsh said.

Seating arrangements and locations of big screens can sometimes mean extra tickets can be released on the day of the matches, or just before, she said.

Tournament odds

As at 2.30pm yesterday for outright winner

• Australia: $3
• South Africa: $3.75
• New Zealand: $5
• Sri Lanka: $11
• India: $12
• England: $12
• Pakistan: $15
• West Indies: $21
• Bangladesh: $101
• Ireland: $501
• Zimbabwe: $501
• Afghanistan: $1001
• Scotland: $1001
• United Arab Emirates: $5,001

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