England and West Indies are locked at one match each in the #raisethebat Test Series between the two sides so there is all to play for when the deciding match begins at Old Trafford in Manchester on Friday.
West Indies drew first blood in the series in Southampton but were unable to back up their solid showing there in the second game in Manchester. England came roaring back from a poor performance with a good one at Old Trafford and hold the current sway of positivity.
England
You wouldn’t say it was a complete performance from England in the previous match, but when you think of the time taken out of the game by the rain, it was a wonderful effort to not just get themselves into a position where they could win the Test match, but to actually go on and down it. England were under pressure to have two excellent days and while the plan would have been to avoid having to bat again, they showed their adaptability to get the job done.
England will know they can still bowl better than they did at Old Trafford but that will come naturally with overs under the belt. If there is something they would like more in this match it would be runs from the whole of their top order rather than just one man. You get the feeling if Ben Stokes were to have a quiet match for England right now, they would struggle to get the job done, so if the others can step up and take something off his plate it would help.
West Indies
If you had offered West Indies a one-off match to win the series when they arrived in the UK ahead of it starting, I’m sure they would have accepted that, so even though they are down after a tough defeat to take in the second Test, things are certainly not totally against them. They need to remind themselves where they are in the series and then come out and give their best performance of the three so far. If they can do that they will be very competitive.
When they have been fit, the West Indies bowliers have performed very creditably throughout the series but they just wilted fitness wise towards the end of the second game which is a concern. The other issue they have is that nobody in their batting line up looks ready to go on and turn a moderately good score into an amazing one which will give their bowlers even more to bowl at. Whenever there is any pressure on their batsmen you expect them to wilt which isn’t good.
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Team News
All eyes will be on England to see what they do with their bowling attack. They have named all six seamers in their squad which was a necessity with Ben Stokes expected to play as a batsman. That could see England playing four of those six seamers and using Joe Root for spin. Jofra Archer is expected to return after his quarantine breaking misdemeanour.
The same issue is what West Indies have to manage. They went in with the same bowling attack for both matches so far but clearly they didn’t come up good for the second game so to name an unchanged bowling attack for a third match in succession would make no sense. Raymon Reifer and Rakheem Cornwall are waiting for their chance.
Old Trafford
We know all the stats regarding Old Trafford now as this is the same venue that the second Test was played at. It will not be the same pitch though, although many of the characteristics we saw last week of huge bounce and early turn is expected to remain the case here. This should be a decent wicket to bat on for the first few days before some up and down bounce and extra turn is available for the bowlers.
The weather was hit and miss in the first game and the forecast suggests that could be an issue as we go along here too. The second day on Saturday has a poor forecast but in the main the other four days look good, so while the odd interruption might take place over those days we should get enough time to yield a positive result to the series.
Betting
I’m going to keep it pretty simple here and back England to win the match. The draw has come in too much for my liking and I think England are now value at 5/6. The draw has come in because the forecast for Saturday is pretty terrible but we’ve basically had a washout in both Test matches so far and still had a result with the better part of a session to spare so I don’t think that the game is definitely a draw even if we lose a day to rain.
We should always remember that even when we lose a day to rain we can make 32 overs back up so it is only 58 overs we lose, which is basically a couple of sessions. The simple fact is that neither batting line up convinces me that they are both going to score big, which will still be needed if the match is going to end in a draw and given that it is the deciding match both teams will be determined to find a way to win. I just think England are the better side right now and have used their options better to make sure they have the fresher side here. That could be the difference in this one.
Tips
WON – Back England to win 3rd Test for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with William Hill
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