Many of the Quiz Master Shop team like cricket, and we all went to the Jolly Quizmaster one day to watch a One Day International match.
Before the game, while sitting around our table with a drink, we were approached by a man who we had never seen in the pub before. "You here to watch the cricket?" he asked. When we indicated that we were, and intended to watch the whole game, he asked if we fancied a bet. He then explained the nature of the bet:
He had an envelope which contained a piece of paper. On the piece of paper he had written down the names of all twenty two players involved in the game. And alongside each name he had written his prediction of the number of runs that player would make in the game.
He would hand the envelope to the landlord for safekeeping before the game started, and at the end of the game it would be retrieved. We would then go through the batsman that were not "Did not bat" and compare their scores with his predictions.
For each batsman, if his prediction was not within three runs of the batsman's actual total, he would give us a pound. However, if his prediction was within three runs of the batsman's actual total, we would give him ten pounds.
Should we take the bet?
Very definitely not!
The trick that he would play is to write down three for all 22 batsman. That means he would win for each player who scored between zero and six, and these scores happen quite frequently in cricket, especially one-day cricket.
In his worst case scenario all 22 players would score seven or more and he would lose £22. If only two player scored between zero and six he would break even. And it is highly likely that more than two would score below seven, giving him a handsome profit.