After a competitive Test series and T20 match so far West Indies finish their tour of England with a five match ODI series. Quite often at this stage of a tour and this time of year these bilateral series don’t mean a great deal but that is not the case for the West Indies in this one.
That is because they are struggling to qualify for the next World Cup in 2019 and need a serious run of 50 over form to avoid having to go through the banana skin of the qualifiers for the event. England are built some momentum in this format and will look to continue that here.
Schedule
1st ODI: Sept 19 at Old Trafford
2nd ODI: Sept 21 at Trent Bridge
3rd ODI: Sept 24 at Bristol
4th ODI: Sept 27 at The Oval
5th ODI: Sept 29 at Southampton
England
It has been an up and down summer for England in this format of the game. They saw off Ireland and South Africa at the beginning of it before failing to justify favouritism in the Champions Trophy when they went out in the semi-final. That was a big disappointment and they will be out to show that was a blip here.
England might be tested more than people think in this series. I say that because generally their approach is to go all out and attack with the bat but conditions at this time of year might not allow that. We saw in that Champions Trophy that when they need to change their approach they go into a shell and fail to perform.
West Indies
You never truly know what you are going to get from the West Indies. I suspect they don’t actually know until they take the field so how anyone else is supposed to guess I have no idea! They have recalled a number of their bigger players for this series and they seem motivated to perform well which could make them dangerous.
I would imagine with the players that are returning that West Indies will be fine with the bat so now the test for them is to stem the flow of runs with their bowling attack. In fairness apart from that first innings in the day-night Test they have largely bowled very well on this tour so they should be competitive at least in this series.
Head to Head
This will be the 21st time these two have done battle in an ODI series. West Indies have had the edge in the past with 11 series wins to eight with one draw but in England they are matched up at five series apiece. England have won the last five series home and away between the two though.
England actually have the better of things in matches overall too with 45 wins to 42 defeats with four no results so history suggests we will get a close series although recently England look to have an edge.
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Betting
I’m not going to bet on the series outcome or indeed the correct score because at this time of year getting five full 50 over matches in has to be in doubt it must be said and I don’t want farces like we’ve seen in India recently to skew any bets the wrong way. I will take a couple of player bets though.
Alex Hales pretty much has five matches to rubber stamp his spot on the Ashes plane here. I personally think he will be going anyway but five impressive outings here and he will definitely be on the flight and I believe he’ll go well in this series. He loves facing pace and we’ve seen all summer the amazing form he has been in. He looked in fine form in the T20 on Saturday and over the five matches I expect him to lead England’s run scoring.
I like a West Indies opener to top score for them too and that is Evin Lewis. I’m a big fan of Lewis. He is typically Caribbean in that he stands there and hits the ball a million miles and this is a big series for him too. If he goes well in this series it will open up all the franchise tournaments for him. England tend to bowl better once the spinners come into play in this format so up the top of the order might be the place to be. Lewis looked in fine touch at Durham and he’s a decent price to top score in this series.
Tips
Back A.Hales Top England Series Batsman for a 3/10 stake at 3.75 with Ladbrokes
Back him here:
WON – Back E.Lewis Top West Indies Series Batsman for a 2/10 stake at 4.50 with Coral
Back him here:
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