Revis will play Week One

It’s the news we all wanted to hear: new Bucs cornerback Darrelle Revis will play in Week One against former team New York Jets inside his old home.

NFL betting fans can expect some high-intensity challenges to litter the field when Tampa Bay and New York square off inside the MetLife Stadium on the opening day of the 2013 season and Revis will be the focal point of the fixture.

The cornerback sensationally signed a six-year, $96 million contract with the Bucs last week that ended a long stint in New York that began way back in 2007. Over that period Revis helped the Jets to two conference championship games from 79 appearances, made 241 tackles and proved one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL.

Yet money talks and this trade has all the hallmarks of a lucrative deal. Revis will get a guaranteed $13 million a season and has $3 million potential further earnings should he perform to the standard he has already set himself.

The Jets, in return, get the 13th Draft pick this year, a fourth-round selection in 2014 and shed a large contract off their salary.

Yet that won’t appease disappointed Jets fans who bet on NFL who hopes to see their three-time All-Pro cornerback leave and many will want retribution on Week One this September.

The Jets are struggling in defense and need players like Revis to stay in order to defy the NFL betting odds and challenge for a playoff spot come winter 2014. No doubt some of their offensive players know how much they’ll miss Revis.

NFL fans should therefore expect some major plays to go down Revis’ side when the team clash in New York this September and if the 27-year-old isn’t careful his former teammates could give fans reason to question the value of this cornerback.

Lendl expect Murray to find clay form

Ivan Lendl has told Andy Murray he will find his best form on clay as long as he continues to put in long hours on the practice courts.

The Scot was embarrassed by Stanislas Wawrinka in the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters last week. The 6-1 6-2 loss was down in no small part to an unforced error count of 24.

The match was only Murray's second of the clay-court season and reminded him just how much he needs to improve to compete with Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

His coach refuses to panic, he believes the US Open champion is still making the transition from hard courts to clay and will benefit from more time on court.

"I am just looking for volume. I think Andy understands that as well. He needs to play sets, he needs to spend time on clay," Lendl told the Guardian.

Murray freely admitted he struggles to get going on clay ahead of his first tournament of the season on the surface.

He stayed in Monaco after his dismal defeat to get a feel for the slow, slippery courts. Lendl has revealed Murray has been training with world number six Tomas Berdych to improve his strokeplay and balance.

The Czech has noted an improvement in his game. "It was different ball coming back from Berdych than from Dani (Vallverdu, Murray's hitting partner) and me, but he looks more comfortable moving around - and that means he will hit better shots as well," Lendl added.

"If you feel like you're not moving well, you have to go for shots you wouldn't go for normally, so you can be more patient."

Murray will be hoping his hard work pays off when he continues his clay-court season at the Madrid Open at the start of May.

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Van Gerwen closes in on play-offs

Michael van Gerwen will have been well aware that his two victories in Dublin last week has given him a chance of securing his Premier League play-off place in Birmingham.

The Dutchman’s wins against compatriot Raymond van Barneveld and then Adrian Lewis increased his lead at the top of the table to four points from his nearest challenger, James Wade.

On his way to another brace of victories in Dublin, van Gerwen showed just why he currently finds himself at the top of the table. Averaging over 107 in his comprehensive win against van Barneveld, the youngster never let his more illustrious countryman gain a foothold in the tie, going on to take the win without too much fuss.

While van Gerwen wasn’t at his best during the 7-5 victory against Lewis in his second game of the night, the Dutchman showed he can still beat top players when he doesn’t play at the top of his game, and do it in front of 10,000 people.

After experiencing the electric atmosphere inside a packed O2 in Dublin, the 23-year old admitted he was full of confidence going into the business part of this Premier League campaign.

“This is the biggest crowd I’ve played in front of and it felt great. My confidence is high and I’m very happy with how I’ve done in this Premier League,” said van Gerwen picking up a pair of victories in Ireland.

“I have great people behind me and I am enjoying everything at the moment. It is difficult playing two games but I’ve won them both times and now I just need to win once every week.”

For the latest from the oche, including Whitlock's match-up with the Hammer, visit the Betfair website at http://betting.betfair.com/

Potential Stars in MLB

Stars; we all love to see them and to a certain extent it’s even better to identify players who can reach that status before they get there and watch them develop.

They may be a player that will leave a big hole in their side should they be injured or they may just be players who help the team balance and mental strength, or ones that just get the job done through sheer effort and their will to win; stars come in many shapes and forms. Here we take a look at the ones with the commodity of potential.

In terms of potential how about the New York Yankees Adam Warren, he can start the game or be used in relief but doesn’t have much in the way of big league experience. Despite the limited appearances Warren has looked pretty good when he has been sighted - he’s only allowed one earned run through seven innings of work and has struck out five batters while walking one. With the Yankees not exactly having the most stable rotation there is plenty of room for guys such as Warren to step forward and he could be one who does in a big way in 2013.

Kansas City Royals have been nurturing plenty of prospects for years and have several who could really become stars, no more so than Salvador Perez; he’s made a good start to his big league career and fought back well last year to record some good numbers after starting the year on the disabled list. Perez is primed to make a considerable impact in 2013. He could turn into not just a star, but also one of the top catchers in the game fairly soon.

Talent is one thing that the Cincinnati Reds do have on their roster and in Chris Heisey they could have one that has slipped under the radar and people may need to start paying attention soon. Heisey is currently the left fielder for the Reds, playing alongside Shin-Soo Choo in center field and Jay Bruce in right. Heisey is now entering his fourth season in the MLB and the only question that he really needs to answer is how much power he really has? He only hit seven homers last year in 120 games, if he can get near to 20 this season in a full season he will be one to watch, but the bottom line is even if he can’t he’s still a very good left fielder who should have star potential for the Reds on a talent packed roster.

Stars come in lots of different guises but these three can definitely be filed under the letter P for potential.

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Upbeat Scott feels at home at Augusta

Adam Scott is confident that he is playing well enough to be in contention on the back nine on Sunday at Augusta.

The 32-year-old world number seven sees no reason why he can’t become the first Australian to win the US Masters and claim the coveted Green Jacket.

Scott appeared to be on course to win last year’s Open Championship at Royal Lytham and St Annes when he led by four shots with only four holes left to play, only to then implode as he lost out on the Claret Jug by one stroke to Ernie Els.

However, Scott insists he has got over that disappointment and is ready to improve on his fine recent record down Magnolia Lane. He finished tied for 18th in 2010, was joint second two years ago and was tied for eighth in 2012.

''I think I've developed a level of comfort with the golf course here now,'' Scott said to the US Masters 2013 at Betfair.com. ''I come here and I'm not scared of hitting it in the wrong spot. You're a little more comfortable, definitely not as tentative. It's like a home track.

''Obviously 2011 was great and last year I played solid as well so I feel like now I've got the experience and the knowledge of the golf course.''

Scott made a conscious decision to concentrate all his efforts on winning a Major two years ago when he decided to limit his schedule.

Since then, he has produced six top-15 finishes in the last eight Majors, including his runner-up spots at last year’s Open Championship and the 2011 Masters.

Scott is one of four Australians in the 93-man field at Augusta. Jason Day and John Senden return for the third and fourth time respectively while Marc Leishman makes his second appearance in the tournament.

Relive the top five Augusta memories over on the Betfair website!