Angus Loughran

BBC Sport Presenter and Daily Telegraph columnist Angus Loughran gives Betfair customers his preview of 2005…

The biggest domestic event of 2005 is The Ashes Tests Series against Australia which amazingly does not start till late July because of an earlier series against the mighty Bangladesh. The Aussies will be hard to beat with Ricky Ponting my idea of their star. Shane Warne is still a world class player and he could once again have the hoodoo on the English batsmen. England are much improved and in Andrew Flintoft have a true world class player, if he has a similar summer to 2004 and Michael Vaughan has some luck with the coin toss they could do it but I think the Aussies are still clear of all their major rivals at present.

In Golf Tiger Woods can bounce back and looks the one to beat at St Andrews, the same course where he ran away with the 2000 Open. Woods is currently 5.0+ to back which looks more than fair. I expect Tiger to win the US PGA Tour order of merit with something to spare and expect him to blow away arch rival Vijay Singh.

Chelsea are hot favorites to win The Premiership and will be hard to beat after a great festive period. The Champions League looks wide open going into the last 16 knockout stage with Real Madrid the value here despite a tough draw against Juventus.

It promises to be a great Cheltenham with the Irish holding all the aces. In the Champion Hurdle Back in Front looks the value at this stage. And if Kicking King goes for The Gold Cup he has a great chance of stopping the great Best Mate making it 4 in a row.

Wales are the value in the Winter 6 Nations while Scotland should be backed to win the Wooden Spoon. The Summer sees The Lions travel to New Zealand I expect this series to be won by The All Blacks.

Finally, a date for the diary is Wednesday July 11th when Paris will be confirmed as the host city for the 2012 Olympics thus ending London’s dream.