The rain in Manchester did England no favours in the cricket at the weekend, but there were plenty of sporting headlines from elsewhere over the last few days. It has been over 50 years since Hull KR  or Leigh won the Challenge Cup but one of the pair will be victorious at Wembley after they progressed from two tense semi-finals.  

In the Women’s World Cup, England got off to a jittery start, Brian Harman won the Open and Yorkshire’s Maxi Hughes was desperately unlucky to lose a world title eliminator against George Kambosos Jr. We have trawled through the major events over the weekend to find three big winning bets from all the action.

Please remember Spread betting carries a high level of risk to your capital and can result in losses larger than your initial stake/deposit. They may not be suitable for everyone so please ensure you fully understand the risks involved.

THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP – BRIAN HARMAN WIRE 2 WIRE (SETTLED AT 183.3)

Before teeing off on Thursday Brian Harman was a 100/1 shot to lift eh Claret Jug with the American being as long as 125/1 at points in the run up to the Open at Royal Liverpool, but the 36-yar-old paid no heed to his price as he secured his first major in stunning style.

Buyers on the Wire2Wire market were also rewarded as Harman’s spread settled at 183.3 against a pre-Championship spread of 4-7. This market awards 50 points for the round leader each day, 30 points for second, 20 for third and ten for fourth with an extra boost for the final finishing position.

Away from Harman, there were some decent place wins for each way punters, with Jason Day (80/1), Emiliano Grillo (300/1), Sepp Straka (175/1), and Tom Kim (66/1) all landing place money for shrewd operators.

WORLD MATCHPLAY FINAL – CLAY/ASP 10/3 (SETTLED AT -46)

A thrilling week of darts drew to a close in Blackpool last night and we ended with a new name on the trophy as Nathan Aspinall defeated his close friend Jonny Clayton to land the Phil Taylor Trophy at the Winter Gardens.

Heading into the match, Aspinall was a slight underdog, with Clayton favoured 1.5-4.5 on the 10/3 market that awards ten points to the winner and three points for every leg won by. At 5-5, the match was finely poised with both players finishing off some incredible ton-plus checkouts.

However, from there the Asp went nuclear and rampaged his way to an 18-6 victory having won 11 legs in a row at one point. A 12-leg winning margin left the spread to settle at -46 and those who sided with Aspinall were rewarded with a win of 47.5x their stake.

ENGLAND v HAITI – TOTAL GOAL MINUTES x CORNERS (SETTLED AT 290)

Haiti made their Women’s World Cup bow at the weekend and they put in an impressive performance against one of the pre-tournament favourites England on Saturday.

The Lionesses needed a retaken Georgia Stanway penalty in the 29^th minute to get their noses in front and thanks to some superb goalkeeping from Manchester United’s Mary Earps they managed to secure an opening day win.

It would have been a long way from the performance that Sarina Wiegman wanted but was a joy for sellers on the Total Goal Minutes x Corners spread at 2400-2575.  Stanway’s strike was multiplied by ten corners as the spread settled at 290, leaving sellers winning 2110x their 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.