Such is the way the summer has been condensed, just over 12 hours after completing an ODI series, England are back in action in another Test series with Pakistan the visitors for a three-match showdown which gets underway at Old Trafford on Wednesday.
This will be the second series involving England this summer after their win over West Indies last month. Pakistan are expected to provide a stiffer test and it will be interesting to see how the series plays out.
Schedule
1st Test: Aug 5-9 at Old Trafford
2nd Test: Aug 13-17 at Ageas Bowl
3rd Test: Aug 21-25 at Ageas Bowl
England
It would be wrong to say that England were the most convincing we have ever seen them against West Indies but after dropping the opening game of the series and piling themselves under pressure, to perform like they did and win a well as they did in the last two matches they deserve a fair bit of credit. Critics would argue that they beat a jaded side and there is an element of truth in that but I always say that you can never criticise a team for winning.
It was clear to see that England’s new approach to batting in Test cricket is beginning to work. They didn’t always put up big scores but they have found a top three who have runs in them, albeit individually at present, and who see off the new ball and that allows their better batsmen to thrive. That is a huge thing because with the depth of reserves England have in the bowling department, when they have scores on the board they will be very hard to stop.
Pakistan
As with West Indies earlier in the summer, a lot of credit must go to Pakistan for coming over and fulfilling their part to play in the series. In these uncertain times nobody would have questioned them had they chosen not to fly over, go through the two-week quarantine period and effectively live in a bubble for six weeks or so. Just being in England is an achievement but they are a proud nation who will not be coming over to make up the numbers.
This will be the first Test series Pakistan will have played in since February when they saw off Bangladesh in what turned out to be a one match series due to Covid. The acid test as always is whether Pakistan will put up the required amount of runs to give their exciting young bowling attack the chance to deliver the goods. In away conditions their batting can be a little fragile, although they might be in England at the perfect time weather wise.
Special Offer
INTERNATIONAL CRICKET IS BACK! SIGN UP TO VBET AND GET A FREE £25 BET TO ENJOY IT WITH! CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW TO OPEN AN ACCOUNT. 18+ T&Cs apply. Gamble Aware.
Head to Head
These two strong cricketing nations have met in 25 previous Test series. England have the overall edge with nine wins while there have been eight wins for Pakistan and eight drawn series. England haven’t won any of their last four series against Pakistan and you have to go back to 2010 for the last time England were victorious over this opponent.
15 of those series have been in England where the home side have come out on top in seven of them. Five have been drawn, including the last two, while Pakistan have three series successes to their name. Pakistan’s last series win in England came in 1996 so they would be making a little bit of history as the first Pakistan side to win on these shores this century should they come out on top in the series.
Betting
We look to be coming into a good period of weather so I’ll take three bets in this series. The first of those is for England to win it 2-1. England have developed a huge trend of losing the first game in a series and then winning the last two to win these things 2-1 or 3-1 for the longer series. England have lost their last five opening matches in a series so backing them to win 3-0 makes absolutely no sense. Even if they happen to win the opening match here, their players will be playing a sixth match in just about seven weeks come the last game so they could be jaded or if the series is won by then the big guns could get a rest. I expect three results so the 5/1 on a 2-1 England win makes a lot of sense.
When it comes to the top England batsman there can only really be Ben Stokes who can be backed here. He is always heralded as the best all-rounder in the world, and he is, but he is becoming a brilliant batsman in his own right. Since the start of 2019 he has four Test centuries in 17 matches as well as six more 50s and he is averaging 53.81 for that period of play. He was in brilliant touch against the West Indies earlier in the summer and that wasn’t long enough ago for his form to disappear. This isn’t going to be a series for batting against the new ball so Stokes down at five is my pick to lead the England run scoring.
All the talk whenever this Pakistan side are discussed these days is about Babar Azam and while there is no doubting that he is a real class act, a lot of his best efforts come against the white ball. He averages a smidgeon over 45 in his Test match career, as opposed to more than 50 in ODI and T20 international cricket, but when you apply the away from home filter his average drops to 35.30 in Test cricket. Just one of his five centuries have come away from home so I’m happy to take him on with Asad Shafiq. He is a player I’ve admired for a long time and I don’t see him getting any worse. He already has a couple of 50s in one of the warm up matches he played on this tour and has scored 50s in the last four Test matches he has batted in. Seven of the 12 centuries Shafiq has in Test cricket have come away from home so he clearly enjoys touring. He averages over 40 against England and is a big price at 6/1.
Tips
Back England 2-1 for a 2/10 stake at 6.00 with Sky Bet
Back B.Stokes Top England Series Batsman for a 2/10 stake at 4.75 with BetVictor
Back him here:
Back A.Shafiq Top Pakistan Series Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 7.00 with 888sport
Back him here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2020
