After an ultimately disappointing Test series against Pakistan over the last month, England ditch the whites for the coloured clothing for the next few weeks as they continue their tour of the UAE.
Over the next few weeks England will play Pakistan in four ODIs and three T20s with the ODI series beginning in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. Pakistan will be looking to build on their Test series win but England are improving in this format so it is an interesting series.
The opening two matches of this ODI series will be in Abu Dhabi before the two sides head back to Sharjah for the third game with the final match being in Dubai.
Pakistan go into the series having won their last three ODI series although two of them were against Zimbabwe so I’ll leave it up to others to decide how much relevance they carry but it does show they are a side settling down and getting used to winning.
England looked a side of world beaters against New Zealand at the beginning of the summer but lost to Australia – albeit narrowly – to give them something of a reality check if they needed one after a poor World Cup at the beginning of the year.
Azhar Ali takes over from Misbah as captain for this form of the game and there is a recall to the squad for Younis Khan after his impressive Test form. There is still no spot for Saeed Ajmal but Mohammad Irfan is in the squad.
England will be without Mark Wood and Ben Stokes for this series with both missing out through injuries. There is no Steven Finn either so Liam Plunkett has been added to the squad. All eyes will be on Alex Hales’ form in this series.
You don’t get many four match series in this format of the game and you would have to say this is a hard one to bet on because rain isn’t going to be an issue so you need a side to win three out of four matches to take the series. None of the odds provide any value on that happening it must be said.
I do like one bet for the series though and that is in the Top England Series Batsman market. Joe Root is the favourite in this market and it isn’t hard to see why given how good he is but I think the best time to bat could be against the new ball. We saw in the Tests how England fail against spin and when you’ve got to attack it then it will be even harder to prosper.
With that in mind I’m going to take one of the openers and I like how Jason Roy is beginning to warm to the task at this level. The other reason I like him is wickets at The Oval are very similar to the ones in the UAE with them being great for batting but dusty and offering turn so he should be well suited to conditions he’s going to meet. At 5/1 the value is with the Surrey man.
Back J.Roy Top England Series Batsman for a 2/10 stake at 6.00 with Betfred
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