Just under four months since the last game was played, international cricket returns this week when England host West Indies as the sport starts life in the ‘new normal’ in light of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic that has disrupted the world at large let alone the sporting one.
These two nations have battled it out in some amazing contests in the past, and while the profile of this series isn’t what it once was, there will be plenty of eyes on it with cricket fans around the world eager for their fix of live action.
Schedule
1st Test – 8-12 July at Ageas Bowl
2nd Test – 16-20 July at Old Trafford
3rd Test – 24-28 July at Old Trafford
England
It has been a while in coming but the international summer will finally get underway for England. This is no ordinary summer however. Usually by now their side will have featured for their counties and would be nicely up to speed but there has been no county cricket, so other than a three-day warm up match, this will be their first cricket since they finished their tour of South Africa back in February.
The suspension probably didn’t come at a good time for this England side. They had just beaten South Africa in a series in their own back yard and would have been favourites to see off Sri Lanka too. That said, had it not been for the coronavirus England wouldn’t have been playing this series anyway. We should remember this is a transitional England side but the early signs are that they are a competent one.
West Indies
Credit must go to the West Indies for coming over to play this series. It would have been easy to stay at home and wait for the CPL to come around for their players to get back into action, but they accepted the invite and will be out to be competitive now that they are involved. Given that they were forced to undertake the 14-day quarantine regulations in place in England, we could see one of the tightest West Indies sides in a while.
This will be West Indies’ first Test outing of 2020 but they can take confidence from the fact that they overcame Afghanistan in a match many thought they might lose in India in the backend of last year. The strength of this side is very much with the ball, and conditions later in the series could really suit their bowlers. The concern comes in the form of whether they can put up enough runs to be competitive. If they can they could be dangerous.
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Head to Head
The two famous cricketing nations have met in 37 previous Test series. England have come out on top in 14 of them while West Indies have been victorious on 17 occasions. There have also been six drawn series. West Indies won the last series between the two in the Caribbean last year. You have to go back to 1988 for the last time they won a series in England though. In that time they have won just six out of 32 Tests so although history overall is on their side, more recently it is England who have had the better of things.
Betting
Given all the uncertainties around the series, the players and the environment I’m not going to get too involved in the series outright because so much can change over the course of three weeks, be it players testing positive, lockdowns being reinforced or anything like that and while I don’t mind using the grey matter to predict some things which might happen, there is no telling when any of that is going to hit.
I will have a small bet though in the hope that we do get through the three matches unscathed and with the health of everyone intact. That comes in the top West Indies series batsman market where I like an outsider in Shane Dowrich. Two mainstays of the West Indies batting chose not to come on the trip in Shimron Hetmyer and Darren Bravo, leaving Shai Hope and Kraigg Brathwaite as the two main batsmen in the team, but with no saliva being allowed to work on the ball, it might be that down the order against the old ball is the best time to bat, which could bring Shane Dowrich into play. He scored a century in the opening Test of the series win over England in the Caribbean last season and is a technically sound enough batsmen to cope in English conditions. He scored a 50 in the first warm up match on this tour so he’s clearly in good nick and he could be forgotten about when England plan who to target. At 12/1 he is worth a tiny punt.
Tips
Back S.Dowrich Top West Indies Series Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 13.00 with Coral
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