Relief

Since Last Post P/L: £313.50
Monthly P/L: £300.58
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It's been a tough week but I seem to have got through it okay. I was starting to get a little worried on Monday that I was going to endure my first losing month but fortunately I've worked hard and managed to put myself in a pretty strong position so unless I go and completely duff things up I should survive. I've also taken two days off work so I plan to take a look at the Twenty20 matches between England and the West Indies on Thursday and Friday.
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Gloucestershire v Worcestershire
Where did all that rain come from? I'm surprised they got this match on at all let alone 10 overs a side so a big well done to all those involved - some truly shocking conditions but surprisingly some well played cricket. Worcestershire batted first and racked up a very decent score of 101. To be honest I thought this would be enough - the conditions weren't good and it needed a good start form Gloucestershire to get close. As could be expected following my recent run I was quickly proved wrong as the home side won comfortably with 8 balls to spare. Luckily, due to the restricted overs I was playing with small amounts so I only lost £7.08 on the match.
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Warwickshire v Northamptonshire
I realised now that I was in a spot of bother - 25 days of the month were gone and I was still staring at a negative p/l. Drastic action was needed, I had to do some studying! With trading I've come to realise quickly that knowledge is power. It's no surprise that I haven't been able to make Tennis pay as I haven't spent time studying the sport but it's not completely the same for cricket (I have spent some time doing research) but I obviously hadn't done enough so I hit the books and I'd like to think it's paid off (at least for now anyway).
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When I got home from work Warwicks were finishing off their innings. The Maddy wicket had just fallen, their tail-end seemed to be collapsing and the market was reacting but they recovered pretty well in the last couple of overs and ended up setting a target of 174 for Northants to chase. This was a good score - Edgbaston is not an easy place for chasing a target and no Twenty20 score above 170 had been knocked over. Without spending time looking at the stats I wouldn't have known this and therefore I also wouldn't have known that the 1.96 that was available to back Warwicks was great value. I jumped in with £375 and rode the price down - in then out, in then out - until there wasn't much chance of a Northants comeback. The result was a £129.71 gain and I was back in business.
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Lancashire v Yorkshire
Buoyed by my win from last night I was very confident that I could make some money out of tonight's game. Gareth mentions it here in his recent post and he's right, there's no underestimating a positive mental attitude when it comes to trading. It gives you the strength to trust in your opinion and not make knee jerk reactions - these are always costly.
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Lancashire batted first and set the type of total I like - 143 sounds naff but it was a par score and although Yorkshire deserved to be favoured, their price of 1.40 at the switch of innings was way too short. I nibbled and then nibbled some more as White lost his wicket after facing 6 balls. Not a great start and I was just waiting for the right time to go in heavy on Lancs. A steady stream of wickets turned out to be Yorkshire's downfall as none of their batsmen were able to make a stand and I ended up picking this one right. My month now seems back on track but it's not over yet. I finished with a profit of £190.87 on this one.
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