The eagerly anticipated Test series between England and India gets underway at Trent Bridge on Wednesday, although with all the hype around The Hundred and the seeming will to put Test cricket on the backburner you could be forgiven for forgetting that is the case.
When these two meet there is always plenty of attention on it and after India beat England in a Test series in India earlier in the year, all eyes will be on England to see if they can gain revenge or whether their slide in this format continues.
England
This will be the third Test match that England have played since their demise in India earlier in the year. They drew one match against New Zealand when they were criticised for not attempting to chase a win in the final innings and then they were beaten by a much changed Kiwi side. England will be quick to point out that they were without their IPL stars for that series but from the team that played then to the one which features here it might only be Jos Buttler who comes back in.
This is a big match for the England batsmen. They have been very hit or miss for far too long and the gauge is a little too close to the latter than the former for comfort. However if they can bat positively and well in this match it will ease some of the pressure on them for the remaining four games, but if they continue to put up below par totals then something will have to give at some point. Regardless of how quickly they come, it is imperative for England to put a couple of big scores together. If they do that they have the bowlers to do the business.
India
You would think India will come into this series confident after an away win in Australia and a home win against England in terms of series successes already this year but they were brought down a peg or two when they were unable to get the better of New Zealand in the World Test Championship final six weeks or so ago. That is only likely to have fuelled their fire to go again but they have been fighting a few Covid-19 issues in recent times which might not help them.
If there is a negative for India here it might come in the form of the fact that they have been in the country the better part of six weeks since that World Test Championship final and haven’t been playing much cricket in that time. R Ashwin did get himself a county deal for a match but he was the only one so whether the Indians will begin this series undercooked might be a concern. That aside though they appear in good enough shape to give this one a real go.
Special Offer
Open up a BetVictor account and bet £5 to get £30 in bonuses! Click the image below for this standout new account offer! New accounts only. 18+ T&Cs apply. Gamble Responsibly
18+ New Customers only. Deposit, opt in and place a £5 qualifying bet at odds of 2.00 or greater within 7 days of opening a new account; excludes cashed out bets. Receive 2x £10 Free Sports Bets, valid on set events only at odds 2.00 or greater, expires in 7 days. Plus a £10 Game Show Bonus, selected games, wager 40x to withdraw a max of £250. T&Cs Apply. Please Gamble Responsibly.
Trent Bridge
There have been 63 previous Test matches at this Nottingham venue. England have played in all but one of them and they have a winning record here. They have 22 wins to 18 defeats and they have also been involved in 22 draws as well. This will be the eighth time India have tackled the red ball on this ground. Their record is fairly mixed so far. They have a pair of wins and a couple of losses as well as three draws.
This is generally a decent ground for batting because the size of the outfield is tiny so batsmen get good value for their shots. The ball swings when there are clouds around though which keeps the bowlers in the game. The forecast is for a mixture of sunshine and showers so there could be spells in this match where batting might be very difficult and others where it could seem relatively easy.
Betting
I’ll go with a couple of bets over the course of the first Test with the first of those being the performance of Stuart Broad who is on his home ground here, a ground that he relishes playing at and has a very good record at. He will be remembered here for that blistering spell against Australia where he bowled them out in a session six years ago but all of his records here better his career ones. His Test batting average is 18.70 but here it is 31.46 while his bowling average overall is 27.72 yet here his wickets come at 22.20. He has three 60s and two more innings of 40+ in the 14 times he’s batted here while he has an eight wicket haul, a six for and two three fors. He is very strong here and I think a performance line of 89.5 points is well within his compass.
Given that the England batsmen have been warming up for this match playing in the Vitality Blast, Royal London One Day Cup and The Hundred, there is a chance they are not at the races in the first innings so I’ll pay to see if someone down the order can come good and land the top batsman honours. It wouldn’t be the first time an England top order has struggled in the first game of a series were that to be the case. Sam Curran is someone with a decent enough technique but also an attacking mindset which is often a style that prevails on this ground. As a left-hander he’ll be able to pepper that short boundary to the new stand as well which will help. Curran is more than handy with the bat. In his first series against India three years ago he made scores of 24, 63, 40, 78, 46, 0 and 21 so the middle set of those scores could easily top score around here so at 50/1 I’ll take him to be the England top scorer in the first innings.
Tips
Back S.Broad’s Performance – Over 89.5pts for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
Back S.Curran Top England 1st Inns Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 51.00 with Betfair
Back him here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2021
