Cricket
England v West Indies third Test preview
The third and final test match between England and the West Indies is on the horizon, with England currently holding a 2-0 advantage in the series and looking to complete a 3-0 sweep of their visitors.
The first test saw an England victory to cap off the excellent career of Jimmy Anderson, who claimed two wickets in an innings and 114-run rout at Lords.
The second test saw a much tighter affair with England still victorious by 241 runs after bowling West Indies out for 143 in the second innings. It was a day of firsts for England – bowler Shoaib Bashir became the first spin bowler since 2006 to take five wickets in a Test match at Trent Bridge, whilst batsman Harry Brook secured his first Test century at home.
The two sides make the short trip from Nottingham to Birmingham for the series finale on Friday.
Bet on the third test between England and West Indies with William Hill here
England v West Indies – Friday 11:00
Edgbaston hosts the final game in the series and England’s dominance in the first two tests has seen them installed as heavy favourites for the third test at odds of 1/9, with West Indies 10/1 underdogs.
England will use all the opportunity they can get to experiment with their post-Anderson bowling attack and Friday could see them tweak their starting seamers once again. The uncapped Dillon Pennington has been knocking on the door for a Test debut for a few months and could be included in the series finale, and he can be backed at 27/10 to be England’s top bowler in the first innings.
In the second test, Joe Root made 122 and climbed to number eight in the top Test run scorer charts. The former captain continues to be a model of consistency and there’s no reason to believe he can’t continue that again – he is priced at 11/8 to score 50 and 7/2 to score a century, something he’s now achieved 32 times for his country. He can also be backed at 3/1 to be England’s top run scorer in the third test.
The West Indies delivered a vastly improved performance last week from their Lord’s trouncing, at one point reaching 61-0 on a benign deck with four sessions to knock down 320 more runs. Their second innings capitulation was a testament to England’s skill with the ball on their home turf, but there was still plenty of positives to take for Jason Holder’s men as they attempt to get themselves on the series scoreboard in Birmingham.
The verdict
Despite their resurgence in the second Test, it’s difficult to see anything other than another England victory here. You can expect Ben Stokes’ men to start fast again despite it being an inevitability that Edgbaston will provide more help for the bowlers than Trent Bridge, so over 60.5 runs for the England batsmen in the first ten overs can be backed here at 6/4.
