Bingham looking good to go the distance

By Adrian Humphries at the Crucible 12:25PM 4 MAY 2015

WITH the Betfred World Championship final finely balanced at the halfway stage, it's pretty much as you were in the betting.

Title favourite Shaun Murphy, who leads Stuart Bingham 8-7, is best at 2-5 to add to his 2005 Crucible crown having been 4-9 before the best-of-35-frames decider started, while Bingham is 5-2 with the tournament sponsors to post an upset.

Betfred were biggest at 50-1 about Bingham before the 17-day tournament started, but say a triumph for the Basildon cueman would not hurt them unduly with the earlier exits of Ronnie O'Sullivan, Judd Trump and Neil Robertson more significant.

Bingham is 4-9 to make the final's highest break, having already registered a run of 123, while Murphy has drifted to 21-10 with BoyleSports to trump his opponent with a possible 18 frames remaining.

Unsurprisingly, total frames quotes have increased with the line pushed to a general over/under 32.5 line from the 30.5 and 31.5 mark. And with Bingham proving hard to keep quiet and fighting back time after time, it looks like the clash could go close to the wire.

It's 4-1 with Betway and Paddy Power that it goes to a deciding frame, while each player is 10-1 to win the title by an 18-17 scoreline.
If anyone fancies a bet for the final day, backing over 32.5 frames at 10-11 could be the way to go in a match in which Bingham is being driven on by the support of the Crucible crowd.

On the spreads, Sporting Index have raised their 50-ups and ton-ups quotes in the wake of Murphy and Bingham providing a high-quality first 17 frames.

Fifty-ups, which opened at 637-667, are now trading at 807-831 with the tally currently standing at an impressive 484 with both players posting healthy contributions, while ton-ups, which are totalling 55 at the halfway stage, are 93.5-96.5 from 77-81.

FIXED-ODDS MARKETS

Match: 2-5 Murphy (general) v 5-2 Bingham (Betfred).
Handicaps: 4-6 Murphy -1.5 frames (Hills), 13-10 Bingham +1.5 (Betfair); Evs Murphy -2.5 (Hills), Evs Bingham +2.5 (Ladbrokes); 13-8 Murphy -3.5 (Hills), 8-13 Bingham +3.5 (Betfair).
Total frames: 1-2 over 31.5 (Paddy Power), 7-4 under 31.5 (Hills); 10-11 over 32.5 (Ladbrokes, Paddy Power), Evs under 32.5 (Hills).
Highest breakmaker: 4-9 Bingham (Betfair, Betfred) v 21-10 Murphy (BoyleSports).
Betway - number of centuries: 5-6 six or fewer, 5-6 seven or more.
Others: 4 match to go to deciding frame (Betway, Paddy Power).

SPREADS

Match supremacy 6.5-9.5 Murphy/Bingham (10 per win, 3 per frame won by) (SM leads 9-8), 128-130 highest break (123 so far), 125-127 highest Murphy break (121), 124-126 highest Bingham break (123), 93.5-96.5 ton-ups (55), 807-831 50-ups (484), 60-130 total points supremacy (Mur/Bin) (-7); 3,330-3,390 total match points (1,791).