Rio Ferdinand has certainly not been a regular fixture in defence for Manchester United, yet he has nevertheless been handed the England captaincy from Fabio Capello.

Ferdinand is suffering from a back injury, which isn’t simply disappear in a matter of weeks like any common injury. Sir Alex Ferguson decided not to risk him in this week’s clash against West Ham, and he has already been ruled out of this weekend’s Carling Cup Final. United are the 4/9 favourites to lift the trophy instead of Aston Villa, and are expected to cope once again without Rio.

And so we come to the betting on England’s World Cup Captain, a market that will be settled when England kick off against USA. Rio is unsurprisingly the 1/6 favourite with William Hill, but the nature of his injury must put punters off from taking such a short price about the supposed ‘good thing’ in the market. I very much doubt that Capello would start Ferdinand at the back against USA if he wasn’t feeling 100%.

The layers on Betfair offer slightly more generous odds of 1/3 on Rio. If you are willing to play the bookmaker and lay those odds, you are effectively backing the field at 3/1.

In Rio’s absence, Steven Gerrard will be captain, as he has already been named as the vice-captain. Hills go 9/2 that he leads England out against the USA, which has to be the value bet at this stage of the season. He drifted right out to 9/1 from even money on the exhange, but has now been halved in price. Also bear in mind that Gerrard’s Champions League campaign has been cut short, and that his beloved Liverpool will be looking to bank a top-four spot in the domestic league rather than lifting the Europa League.

It would take a horrendous run of injuries for John Terry to win back the captaincy at 20/1, and 25/1 Beckham is more likely to start on the bench. Becks is 1/5 with Bet365 to make the squad this summer, which looks like a pretty safe bet to me.

Bookies.com is your best bet for comparing football odds:

World Cup 2010 Betting Odds

England Captain vs USA Betting

England Squad Betting

Kevin Pietersen has left his position as England Cricket Captain today, following a row with coach Peter Moores. Although the details are still not clear, it looks like Moores has quit as England coach. That means there are 2 new markets this Wednesday on bookies.com, Next England Captain and one for the Next England Coach.

Paddy Power must have made a mistake by offering 11/10 on Andrew Strauss, as he is now 2/5 favourite with Ladbrokes. The markets have been shambolic this morning, with Kevin Pietersen priced up at varying prices from Paddy Power’s 11/8 and Coral’s 14/1. Unsurprisingly, Coral and Paddy Power have taken down their markets whilst things calm down a little.

Check the terms with your bookmaker before placing a bet, because although most are taking bets on the captain for the 1st Test against West Indies, William Hill have specified that their market is on the captain for the 1st Ashes Test. Meanwhile Ladbrokes will void bets if Pietersen is captain for the West Indies Test Series, so their 2/5 about Strauss is probably a better price than other firms’ 8/13.

Andrew Strauss has enjoyed some great form recently and is a well respected player who deserves his place in the side. That said, we may well see 2/1 KP return as captain under a different coach. Pietersen is currently the 7/4 second favourite on Betfair, so perhaps there may even be value in 2/1 with Stan James.

Other contenders are 8/1 Flintoff and 20/1 Collingwood. As for 33/1 Michael Vaughan, it looks like his time is up. Robert Key has had some interest in the market, 20/1 from 40/1.

In the Next Coach market, Andy Flower is the 2/7 hot favourite, who may take over as an interim coach. He was made assistant coach in May 2007, and the bookies reckon that he’ll be promoted. Ashley Giles is 6/1, but 5/1 Graham Ford is probably more of interest, in from 12/1.

This turmoil means that Australia have shortened for the Ashes, with Boylesports offering the stand-out price of 6/5, although some bookmakers go odds-on.

bookies.com compares odds between the top UK bookmakers on hundreds of cricket markets:

Next England Captain Betting

Next England Coach Betting

The Ashes 2009 Betting

Will Shane Warne bowl a ball in the Ashes? Betting

West Indies v England Test Series Betting

New Zealand v West Indies 4th ODI Betting