Tournament hosts England have been beaten finalists in the Champions Trophy on two previous occasions so they will be hoping it can be third time lucky this year. They head into the tournament off the back of a wave of success so strong it has made them the favourites with the bookmakers. All eyes will be on Eoin Morgan’s men to see if they can perform to those expectations.
Stats
Best Finish: Runner up 2004 & 2013
Captain: Eoin Morgan
Key Players: Ben Stokes & Joe Root
Tournament Odds: 3/1 Betfair
Group A Odds: 7/5 Netbet
Fixtures
Thurs June 1: vs Bangladesh at The Oval
Tues June 6: vs New Zealand at Cardiff
Sat June 10: vs Australia at Edgbaston
Squad
Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Alex Hales, Liam Plunkett, Asil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
Strengths
There is no doubt these days that the strength of this England side is with the bat despite what they offered in their most recent outing against South Africa. Scores well in excess of 300 are becoming the norm for this side who are so strong with the bat that they are unlikely to have room in their side for Jonny Bairstow. He’d get into most other sides in this competition.
Weakness
Although England are improving with the ball it remains their weakness especially if they don’t take wickets in the middle order. They lack potency at the death and they probably lack an out and out decent second spinner although Moeen Ali has done a decent job for a while. English conditions could negate that weakness but it still exists.
[the_ad_group id=”3624″]
Betting
Having taken Liam Plunkett to be the tournament top bowler I wasn’t going to get involved in him separately but the 7/1 on offer has priced me in. That is far too big especially with doubts over how much of a role with the ball Ben Stokes will play in the tournament. While Chris Woakes and Mark Wood are dangers Plunkett has a good record and that price is too big.
In the batting there could be some value with the captain Eoin Morgan. As a rule I don’t like taking captains in these events but Morgan is strong minded and delivers with runs as he has done recently with hefty knocks against South Africa and Ireland already this summer. Jason Roy isn’t in excellent form and that might put the pressure on Alex Hales and Joe Root should Roy keep failing. That in turn might benefit Morgan and at 6/1 he’s also overpriced to lead England’s batting.
Tips
WON – Back L.Plunkett Top England Tournament Bowler for a 1/10 stake at 8.00 with Winner Sports
Back him here:
Back E.Morgan Top England Tournament Batsman for a 2/10 stake at 7.00 with Titanbet
Back him here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2017
