As we have said England last welcomed the West Indies in 2009 and were on the back of a 1-0 defeat to them in the Carribean when Andrew Strauss’ men really started to turn their results around with a comfortable 2-0 series win which included an innings defeat at Durhams Chester-le-street ground where England made 550+ runs meaning they didn’t have to bat again. For England to win this series to a whitewash or 3-0 it would pay out 8/5 which consider our weather looks a little short?!

England have been in patch form recently following two tours on the sub-continent against Pakistan and Sri Lanka, the first series ended in an emphatic 3-0 whitewash thanks mainly to the fantastic spin bowling produced by the Pakistani team. England to lose another series 3-0 would pay out an impossible 300/1.

Following that disappointing test run against Pakistan behind them they travelled to Sri Lanka and immediately they were under the cosh in Columbo going 1-0 down in the two match series but finally they started to show why they are the Worlds number one side by roaring back to level the series 1-1 that victory was helped in no small part by England’s batsmen finally coming back into form with a first innings of 460 which was the first time they had made over 300 in any innings in those five tests against the two nations. England to draw a second series in a row would pay out 13/2.

England will be looking to score the bulk of their runs in the first innings and then hoepfully skittle out the Windies twice on days three and four of each test, for the first test England are clearly going to look at Kevin Pietersen to score big following his stint in the IPL and he is a 7/2 second favourite to be the leading runscorer at Lords just behind Alistair Cook who is 10/3 whilst Skipper Andrew Strauss is further down the betting at 9/2.

One facet of the England team that remained strong is the bowling department, main strike bowler Jimmy Anderson has been voted England’s player of the year and he is 11/5 to be England’s leading first innings wicket taker at Lords. Stuart Broad is next in line for leading wicket taker at 3/1 which is the same as Graeme Swann.

Betting Tips
England are big, big favourites in this test and series for the Lords series opener England are 4/9 to win whilst the Windies are 10/1 and the draw is 14/5. We cannot going against England at 4/9 but they are very short.
If West Indies can win the toss and take advantage of a first morning pitch they may be able to make inroads into the England batting Line up, we believe that Andrew Strauss is due a big innings and would take him to lead the line at 9/2 abley backed up by Ian Bell at 6/1.

For South Africa, the match may seem unimportant, but it is their failure to be clinical in matches like this, as much as their crumbles in crunch games, that has prevented them from reaching the top of the rankings in both one-dayers and Tests. Too many times recently South Africa have allowed teams to win the odd game after asserting dominance. The home series against Sri Lanka saw South Africa unexpectedly concede a Test, and then lose two dead rubbers in the ODIs.

In the UAE in 2010, a problem-riddled Pakistan seemed to have no chance against a rampant South Africa side, but managed to take the one-day series into a decider. Before that, in 2009, Australia were allowed to win a dead rubber and go away with a respectable series score.

New Zealand (probable): 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Rob Nicol, 3 Brendon McCullum, 4 Kane Williamson, 5 Tom Latham, 6 James Franklin, 7 Andrew Ellis, 8 Kyle Mills 9 Tim Southee, 10 Tarun Nethula, 11 Andy McKay/ Nathan McCullum

South Africa (probable): 1 Hashim Amla, 2 Jacques Kallis, 3 Faf du Plessis 4. AB de Villiers, 5 JP Duminy, 6 Justin Ontong, 7 Johan Botha, 8 Robin Peterson, 9 Wayne Parnell, 10 Morne Morkel, 11 Lonwabo Tsotsobe

Betting Tips

Just cannot back New Zealand anymore. They seem to be able to hit the self destruct button from any position and they are not worth the time of day at the moment.

Back South Africa to complete the whitewash at 8/15 with William Hill.

So far, almost everything South Africa have tried has worked. They should not experiment too much in their quest to close out the series with a match to spare, but will likely continue to leave the No. 4 position flexible and use the part-time spinners to keep the opposition batsmen guessing. Even smaller boundaries here could work in their favour even more with there big hitting top order.

New Zealand have had recent success at McLean Park. They beat Zimbabwe by 202 runs in an ODI at the venue two and a half weeks ago. In addition to the magnitude of the win, the massive 373 for 8 New Zealand piled on in that game with buoy them, after a below-par batting performance in the Wellington ODI. They cannot hope to maul South Africa’s exponentially more dangerous attack the same way they did Zimbabwe’s but they can hope to make better use of home conditions in an attempt to take the series to a decider.

New Zealand (probable): 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Rob Nicol, 3 Brendon McCullum, 4 Kane Williamson, 5 Jesse Ryder , 6 James Franklin, 7 Andrew Ellis, 8 Nathan McCullum, 9 Kyle Mills 10 Tim Southee, 11 Andy McKay

South Africa (probable): 1 Hashim Amla, 2 Graeme Smith, 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 AB de Villiers, 5 JP Duminy, 6 Faf du Plessis, 7 Albie Morkel, 8 Robin Peterson, 9 Dale Steyn, 10 Morne Morkel, 11 Lonwabo Tsotsobe

Betting Tips

South Africa needed a stunning innings from De Villers in the opener to guide them home and big scores will be on the cards again, the boundaries here are only 50 metres on one side so you could be looking at a par score of anything around 300+.

I’m going to give New Zealand another chance to get off the mark here and back them to win at 6/4 with Stan James.

South Africa have already issued a warning during Wednesday’s final T20 that their ability to deal with pressure has changed in some respects whilst New Zealand will also look to this series as a part of a building process. They have some new players in their ranks, specifically in the bowling department. Michael Bates, Andrew Ellis and Tarun Nethula will want to find their place against top-ranked opposition, after making their debuts against Zimbabwe.

New Zealand: (probable) 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Rob Nicol, 3 Brendon McCullum (capt & wk), 4 Kane Williamson, 5 Jesse Ryder, 6 James Franklin/Tom Latham 7 Nathan McCullum, 8 Doug Bracewell 9 Tim Southee, 10 Tarun Nethula/Andy McKay, 11 Kyle Mills/Michael Bates

South Africa: (probable) 1 Hashim Amla, 2 Graeme Smith, 3 Jacques Kallis 4 AB de Villiers (capt & wk), 5 JP Duminy, 6 and 7 Justin Ontong/Faf du Plessis/ Albie Morkel, 8 Robin Peterson/Johan Botha 9 Dale Steyn 10 Morne Morkel 11 Lonwabo Tsotsobe

Betting Tips

Always tough to call an opener in a one day series, both looked good in the T20 series and are capable of scoring at a very decent rate, I’ll side with New Zealand in the first, they should know what a good score is at home and I’ll take them at 11/8 with Skybet to grab the opener while South stil adapt to the conditions.

Australia’s dressing room will be very different without Ponting, and the difference will be magnified by the return of Shane Watson as vice-captain. It is not yet clear whether Watson will make his return to the playing XI in Hobart, but his presence among the team is significant regardless. Watson and Michael Clarke were the anointed leadership duo to replace Ponting in 2011.

Sri Lanka’s regeneration has followed a sturdy upward curve across the series. Close to gaining results in the first three matches, Mahela Jayawardene’s men have added confidence to the discipline by winning the next two. Farveez Maharoof and Lahiru Thirimanne have provided plenty of vim to the team, while Thisara Perera and Angelo Mathews have also demonstrated the skills that can offer the team a bright future in coming years.

Australia  1 David Warner, 2 Matthew Wade (wk), 3 Michael Clarke (capt), 4 Peter Forrest, 5 Michael Hussey, 6 David Hussey, 7 Daniel Christian/Shane Watson, 8 Ryan Harris, 9 Clint McKay, 10 Xavier Doherty, 11 Ben Hilfenhaus.

Sri Lanka are likely to stick with the combination that earned them wins in Sydney and Brisbane, with Lahiru Thirmanne and Farveez Maharoof adding plenty of energy and performance to the XI.

Sri Lanka  1 Mahela Jayawardene (capt), 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Dinesh Chandimal, 5 Lahiru Thirimanne, 6 Angelo Mathews, 7 Farveez Maharoof, 8 Thisara Perera, 9 Nuwan Kulasekara, 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Rangana Herath.

Betting Tips

We see no reason whatsoever to go against Sri Lanka here, they are playing excellent cricket and have rattled off some fantastic victories in the last week or so, they can be backed at 11/8 at Paddy Power and that should give more than a run for your money.

England’s batting was woeful, skittled out for less than 200 on four occassions in three tests is just not acceptable, in particular the second test chasing a paltry 144 to win they were skittled out by Ajmal and co for just 72.

The turnaround has come in the one day internationals when a change of format, captain and line up brought the required change of fortunes, gone were the indecisive batting to be replaced with assured play and finally some centuries from the top order.

A tale of two batsmen, in the first two ODI wins skipper Alistair Cook made back-to-back tonnes to see them home and when he fell in the final two Kevin Pietersen was on hand to remind everyone why he was once ranked the top batsmen in the world.

KP scored 112 not out in the third One Day Internation and went beyond that to 130 in the fourth, more pressure in the fourth as England played a much changed team and found themselve 64-4 until Kieswetter and Pietersen steered them to the verge of victory.

Pietersen is on offer at 3/1 to be the leading English batsmen at just in front of Alistair Cook at 7/2, bit of value a bit further down has to be Ravi Bopara at 5/1 with Bet365.com.

The series was a complete reversal of the test matches with England winning 4-0. The Bowling department did its job as well with Stephen Finn finally thrown into the action and he didnt disappoint, by far and away the best bowler in the One Day series with 13 Pakistani wickets in the four matches.

Pakistan have had a massive bowling threat for the who tour and in the ODI series Saeed AJmal was again their hero taking ten of the 18 English wickets to fall for the four matches played, pity he could only bowl ten overs pair match.

Both England and Pakistan are 10/11 to win the series so even the bookies are sure who will win this series.

Betting Tips

Finn is the cast Iron favourite to be leading English wicket taker at with us but the bookmakers are so sure so they have Finn, Swann, Anderson and Broad all on offer at 7/2.
No such confusion in the Pakistani camp for the leading wicket taker like there is in the England side Saeed AJmal is clear favourite at 3/1 with Shahid Afridi next best price at 10/3.
England are on a roll but Pakistan were far more competitive in the final ODI on Tuesday, England still for us though paying out 10/11 for a win in Dubai.

Misbah-ul-Haq and his men have failed to match up to the quality displayed by their opponents twice now, although the hosts did string together a better performance with the bat in the 2nd ODI, they still didn’t have enough in the arsenal to take them across the finish line.

Pakistan did try and change things quite a bit in their second encounter against England and the changes did work to a certain extent. Azhar Ali provided more to the batting than Shoaib Malik courtesy a solid knock of 31, unfortunately though, he got out just went he was looking to go after the bowling.

England’s path forward looks quite rosy and one without too many hurdles. They are 2-0 up and don’t have to be fearful of a possibility of losing the series, simply because it isn’t a possibility anymore. ‘They approach the rest of this series with a positive mindset and could even dream of whitewashing their opponents and returning the treatment that was dished out to them in the Test series.

Alastair Cook has been leading from the front so far, courtesy back to back centuries. He has been able to wipe away the memories of the Test series and has played the spinners quite well in the two ODIs to accumulate 239 runs.

Betting Tips

Generally when these two teams meet the side who wins the toss wins the match, it appears to be a huge advantage to bat first and set a target rather than chase, Pakistan are due a win on the toss and I have a feeling they will get on the board in this match, they can be backed at 10/11 to claw a game back in this series.

The second and final Twenty20 at the MCG gives Bailey an opportunity to secure a series win in his first series as Australia’s leader.

Australia relied heavily on spin in Sydney, and it was a ploy that slowed India’s scoring to the point that they were unable to fight their way back into the chase. The MCG might offer a little more for the fast men, and it also offers the chance for an enormous crowd after a Sydney record of 59,659 turned out for the first game. A Friday night game in Melbourne means people can wander down to Jolimont after work and take in the action, and far more will be expected at this match than at the first ODI that follows on Sunday, also at the MCG.

Australia (possible) 1 David Warner, 2 Matthew Wade (wk), 3 Travis Birt, 4 David Hussey, 5 George Bailey (capt), 6 Aaron Finch, 7 Mitchell Marsh, 8 Daniel Christian, 9 Brad Hogg, 10 Brett Lee, 11 Clint McKay.

India (possible) 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Gautam Gambhir, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Suresh Raina, 5 Rohit Sharma, 6 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 7 Irfan Pathan, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Praveen Kumar, 10 Vinay Kumar, 11 Rahul Sharma.

Betting Tips

T20′s are always hard to call but I always tend to go with the odds-against side in close contests like this, batting first should be the order for whoever wins the toss and I’m going to go with India to finally grab a victory in Australia tomorrow. They are priced at a very nice 6/4 with bet365.

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Pakistan spun their way to an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three match series, with several England batsmen enduring miserable tours. Strauss (17), Eoin Morgan (10.25), Ian Bell (9) and Kevin Pietersen (4.25) are all averaging under 20 in the two Tests and have been largely at fault as England’s batting has struggled in three of the four innings. Some of the shot selction from the top half of the order has been absolutely inexcusable and its vital England get into form as they go into Sri Lanka on more turning pitches immediately after this.

“You can’t keep underperforming forever,” Strauss said. “All of us have a responsibility to improve our games. I’m a strong believer that no-one is guaranteed their place in the England side. The environment only works if there is pressure on your for your place, so we all have to work very hard for the next five days.”

Despite Strauss’ words, it is far from certain that England will make any changes for this game. While there is a temptation to bring in Ravi Bopara for Eoin Morgan the England management have invested a lot of time and faith in Morgan. The continuity of selection policy has served them well and they are loathe to drop a player they feel has the character to flourish at this level. Morgan did make a Test century against India only four Tests ago and the management signalled their liking for him by appointing him vice-captain of the T20 side. Similarly, England are not about to forget about the excellent months that Pietersen and Bell enjoyed before this tour.

They are no further injury concerns in the England squad. Bell had recovered sufficiently from his stomach trouble to resume training on Thursday and nobody else in the squad has contracted the illness. Back in England, Chris Tremlett, will see specialists next week before any decision is made about the treatment of his back injury.

Pakistan (probable) 1 Mohammad Hafeez, 2 Taufeeq Umar, 3 Azhar Ali, 4 Younis Khan, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Asad Shafiq, 7 Adnan Akmal (wk), 8 Abdur Rehman, 9 Umar Gul, 10 Saeed Ajmal, 11 Junaid Khan.

England (probable) 1 Andrew Strauss (capt), 2 Alastair Cook, 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Ian Bell, 6 Eoin Morgan, 7 Matt Prior (wk), 8 Stuart Broad, 9 Graeme Swann, 10 James Anderson, 11 Monty Panesar.

Betting Tips

Hard to back England with any confidence considering they couldnt even get close to chasing 150 in the last test match, I do think a more cautious approach will help them avoid defeat in the next match but with the condition of the pitch I can see a draw being the most likely result, it can be backed at 5/2 with bet365.

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The cricket ground in Abu Dhabu will certainly offer the batsman a chance of redemption. It has only staged two Tests and both finished in high-scoring draws. Pakistan and South Africa have both scored more than 500 in their first innings here so Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook, in their 100th innings together as an opening pair should have every chance to reach the landmark in style.

Pakistan impressed in Dubai with the methodical way in which they dismantled England but they will surely find them more resilient opponents here.

Chris Tremlett has a sore back and after his mediocre display in Dubai it’s pretty certain that he will be left out. England are most likely to maintain their formula of three quicks by drafting in Steven Finn but they will study the pitch when considering Monty Panesar as the second spin option.

Pakistan 1 Mohammad Hafeez, 2 Taufeeq Umar, 3 Azhar Ali, 4 Younis Khan, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Asad Shafiq, 7 Adnan Akmal (wk), 8 Abdur Rehman, 9 Umar Gul, 10 Saeed Ajmal, 11 Aizaz Cheema.

England 1 Andrew Strauss (capt), 2 Alastair Cook, 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Ian Bell, 6 Eoin Morgan, 7 Matt Prior (wk), 8 Stuart Broad, 9 Graeme Swann, 10 James Anderson, 11 Steven Finn.

Betting Tips

The draw is priced up very short here as it’s a batsman’s paradise and getting in first is a must for the side who wins the toss to put themselves into a position to win the match, I see no reason to think England cannot bounce back like they have done many times over the last couple of years and win the test match at a big price of 9/4.

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