Test cricket returned at the Ageas Bowl last week and while the surroundings of the game were completely different, thankfully the competitiveness of the action certainly wasn’t as West Indies beat England in a wonderful Test match.
That all means that when the two sides reconvene the series at Old Trafford on Thursday, the tourists know they can seal the spoils with a match to spare if they come out on top again. England have to show some fight and avoid defeat to keep the series alive but a win would keep them in with a chance of winning the series themselves.
England
It wasn’t the best of performances from England in the first Test, but this is not alien territory for them. They have been terrible starters in series for far too long now. To their credit they often up their game and become a competitive force for the remainder of a series and that is what they need to do again here. They have been to the well before so they have plenty of history to fall back on of this situation, which should stand them in good stead.
To be fair to England, it might just be that they were beaten by making the wrong decision at the toss. England could have batted better, especially in their first innings but over the course of it they didn’t do a whole lot wrong. The positive for England was that they bowled pretty well in both digs and on another day they could still have rescued the Test match. Another area where improvement can be made is in the field where things got a bit sloppy.
West Indies
Credit must really go to the West Indies. They not only answered the call to take part in this Test series but they prepared well and put on a very good performance in the opening match to take the advantage heading to Old Trafford. What I really liked about the West Indies win in the first game was the professional nature of it. There was no flashiness or anything like that. It was solid, hard Test match cricket and their win was thoroughly deserved.
Going into the series the batting looked to be the weak link and while it would be wrong to say it was perfect or anything like that, it was more than good enough to get the job done. A couple of fine individual efforts were the order of the day at the Ageas Bowl but with the likes of Shai Hope only scoring 25 runs in two innings and just 19 from Jason Holder, there is plenty more to come from the Caribbean men with the willow. One area they don’t need to improve much is with the ball where they were very efficient.
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Team News
England have already confirmed that Joe Root will return to the side and he comes back in place of Joe Denly who drops out. England have also announced that Jimmy Anderson and Mark Wood will be rested so two of Stuart Broad, Chris Woakes, Sam Curran or Ollie Robinson will make up the seam attack.
West Indies had a doubt over opener John Campbell after he retired hurt in the final innings of the match at the Ageas Bowl. He returned later in the innings and is ‘as well as we would like him to be’ according to Holder ahead of the game. That could mean West Indies are unchanged.
Old Trafford
There have been 79 previous Test matches played at the Manchester venue. England have played in all but one of those matches and have come away with 28 wins to 15 losses. There have been 35 draws in that time as well. West Indies have played 15 matches on this ground and have won five and lost six. Four of those matches have been draws. England have won nine of their last 12 matches on this ground but they did lose to Australia last year.
You always get a good cricket wicket at Old Trafford where the batsmen enjoy the pace and the bounce on offer but the bowlers are always in the game as a result of that. There is expected to be a bit of cloud cover for the opening two days so that might also assist the bowlers. Four of the last five first innings on this ground have been over 350 so teams have to score big in the first dig. Spin can often come into play as the match wears on.
Betting
I’ll go with one bet over the course of this match which comes in the performance of England captain Joe Root, where I believe the line is a little on the low side at 95.5. He has a phenomenal record at Old Trafford where he averages 85 per innings, which is quite strange considering it is the home ground of his county rivals Yorkshire. It doesn’t surprise me that he goes well here though because the pitch suits his style of batting.
Admittedly a lot of that average is the 254 he scored here against Pakistan but he has four 50s and a 49 as well as that on this ground. It isn’t just his batting I like about his performance here though. He will field in the slips and they are always in the game and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see him bowl a few overs in the second innings too. I think a half decent innings with the bat will be enough for us here as the bits and pieces in the other disciplines will get us over the line. The same applies to a couple of average innings. One decent innings definitely gets us there so the over looks the way forward in this one.
Tips
Back J.Root’s Performance – Over 95.5pts for a 3/10 stake at 1.85 with 888sport
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