After an extended wait due to the coronavirus, the English summer of cricket gets underway on Wednesday when England take on the West Indies in the first of three Test matches, with this opening game coming from the Ageas Bowl in Southampton.
With cricket pretty much locked down around the world, the eyes of plenty will be on this match and while the players have to get used to the ‘new normal’, they will be eager to draw first blood and go one up in the series with two to play.
England
Although it has been five months since England last played Test cricket, they have laid out a blueprint for how they want to play and that is unlikely to change here. They have committed to batting time and their squad selection for the match suggests they are now swaying from that. In South Africa their batting got better the longer the series went on so they will be out to lay a marker down from the first match of the summer here.
You would think the early stages of the summer are going to be tough for the bowlers. England’s players have only had one three-day warm up match going into the series rather than a barrel load of overs for their counties so that is something to look at. Bowlers might be disadvantaged by the new conditions that saliva can’t be used to shine the ball. In English conditions you get the feeling that is a big thing, and the English bowlers could be disadvantaged more than most.
West Indies
It is a weird thing that the touring side have actually had more cricket under their belts than the home side but that is the case here. West Indies have used their quarantine time wisely and played two inter-squad matches where nearly everyone they are likely to use in this series got time out in the middle. That might bridge the gap between the two teams and you can understand why West Indies are quietly confident as a result.
It is no secret that if West Indies are to get anything from their match, as well as the series, their success or otherwise will come down to how well they bat. If their top six can put up a fair amount of runs then whichever combination of bowlers the Caribbean men select, they are likely to have a very competitive display within them. It does have to be said that it is far from guaranteed that there are enough runs in the Windies side, although they probably have the best pitch with which to attempt to score on.
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Team News
England will be without their captain Joe Root who is away attending the birth of his second child. Ben Stokes will skipper England in his absence. Rory Burns returns from injury while there are rumours that England will pick Jofra Archer and Mark Wood and leave Stuart Broad out.
West Indies have an abundance of options in their pace attack but it would appear that despite that they will pick the spinner Rahkeem Cornwall. Shamarh Brooks is set to be included with Darren Bravo and Shimron Hetmyer left at home.
Ageas Bowl
There have been three Test matches on this ground in the past with the first one being a rain affected draw and the second two seeing England dominating India. Both of those matches saw spin come into the game early and take wickets and although the forecast for the early part of this game is not favourable, it is expected to dry and warm up the longer the game goes on. Historically this isn’t a ground where swing is renowned so generally the batsmen can enjoy conditions.
Although batsmen can enjoy themselves here, there has only been one score of more than 400 in the three matches on this ground, although twice England have declared when that score was a possibility. One thing that is apparent is the first innings is the time to score runs as the pitch can wear quite quickly, although whether it does that here given that this is the first true match of the season on it, remains to be seen.
Betting
I’m largely going to watch this opening match and see how different everything is, if indeed it is different at all, but there are a couple of bets that I think are worth a go over the five days. The first of those is for Ollie Pope to score more than 29.5 runs in the first innings. I’m a huge Pope fan and I believe this will be the summer that he cements himself in the England side. He is expected to bat at number six in this match and I said in my outright preview that I believe that is going to be a good place to bat. Pope’s last four first innings scores have been 75, 61*, 135* and 56 so like all good batsmen he goes big in the first dig. There is no mystery to the West Indies bowling attack and with 55 in the warm up match he’s already in decent nick. I like the over here.
There are plenty of fears that the West Indies batting will not stand up to the early scrutiny of the England bowlers to begin with in this series and I have to admit it is a fear I hold myself, especially if West Indies are inserted in wet and windy conditions early on in the Test match. That makes me think there could be a top score in someone down the order for the tourists and it might only take a few clean swipes of the cricket ball from Rakheem Cornwall for him to land the bacon. Anyone who has seen Cornwall in the CPL will know how cleanly he hits the ball and at 25/1 with a couple of crease occupiers below him, I think there is enough juice in the price for a small bet.
Tips
Back O.Pope – Over 29.5 first innings runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Coral
Back him here:
VOID – Back R.Cornwall Top West Indies 1st Inns Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 26.00 with Betfred
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