It was a night of shocks in the World Cup as Japan beat Spain to top their group and Morocco advanced in top spot ahead of Croatia and Belgium in theirs. For three minutes Costa Rica were joining Japan in the round of 16 but whilst Germany came back to win, Die Mannschaft exited the World Cup in the group stage for the second tournament running.

Elsewhere there has been plenty of international cricket to enjoy with New Zealand, India, Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan playing ODI matches and Australia, West Indies, England, and Pakistan going head-to-head in Test matches.

Ahead of a crucial sporting weekend, we review the last few days to see where the big winning spread bets occurred.

Please remember that unlike fixed odds betting, when spread betting losses can exceed deposits.

PAKISTAN v ENGLAND – ENGLAND 1^st INNINGS RUNS (SETTLED AT 657)

Anyone who watched Pakistan’s home series with Australia earlier this year will have seen plenty of runs flow on the flat pitches around the country and after one innings of this series with England, the same looks to be true.

Whether it be the pitches, some lacklustre bowling or the Bazball effect, England clobbered their way to 657 runs in just under a day-and-a-half’s worth of cricket. There were hundreds for Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Zak Crawley and a stunning 153 from Yorkshire’s Harry Brook which came from just 116 balls.

Before play began in Rawalpindi, the spread on England Runs was 345-360 as buyers landed a massive win of 297x their original stake.

THURSDAY 01^ST DECEMBER THURLES 15:35 – DERRIDAE 50-30-20-10 (SETTLED AT 50)

The lucky last yesterday at Thurles saw a shock result as Derridae came home in front to land the spoils in this 80-95 handicap hurdle. Sent off with a spread of 1-3 on the race index Jordan Gainford’s mount hit the lead two from home and stayed on well to win by five lengths from Hunters Song in second place.

The 12-16 favourite Brehon Star may have been closer were it not for an error made at the fifth from home, but buyers would still have been rewarded as third place paid out at 20 in this race due to the size of the field.

However, it was a day to savour for Derridae buyers as 50 points for the race win meant they won a whopping 47x their original stake.

JAPAN v SPAIN – JAPAN LEADING MINUTES (SETTLED AT 39)

Having beaten Germany in their first match at the tournament, the Japanese would have been hopeful of getting an unlikely win last night against Spain and they did just that in a fantastic defensive performance. As a sign of their underdog status, the Japan Leading Minutes market was 8-11 before the match began.

Spain took the lead through Alvaro Morata early on and at one point in the first half, the spread on Japan Leading Minutes went as low as 0-3. However, despite enjoying the bulk of possession, Spain conceded the first goal of the second half after playing themselves into trouble before Japan scored their second of the match on 51 minutes to take the lead.

It was a contentious goal, but buyers on Japan Leading Minutes won’t have minded as the Asian side defended superbly to see the game out. They ultimately led the match for 39 minutes as buyers won 28x their original stake.

Please note that these are examples of winning bets from the past week, and it is important to remember that spread betting carries a high level of risk to your capital and can result in losses larger than your initial stake/deposit.