England v Pakistan Betting Odds First Test
England to win: 4/5 at Totesport
Draw: 100/30 at SkyBet
Pakistan to win: 3/1 at Bet365
England Captain Andrew Strauss leads his side out against Pakistan in the first of four Test Matches on Thursday, and while the immediate task is to win and build confidence, there will be one eye on the Ashes which are coming up at the end of the year. To get right into the cricket betting, this will be a match between the very impressive bowling attack of the Pakistan side, against an England batting line up which is fair to middling, and certainly not one of the most rock steady in the game. The word for England is improvement, and that has certainly been the buzz word on their short format of the game, where they have looked a vastly improved side during 2010. They enter the series against Pakistan on the back of a whitewash against Bangladesh, and naturally the challenge against Pakistan will be a step up in terms of difficulty.
On the team news front, England are missing Ian Bell and so that means Eoin Morgan, who has been the batting backbone of the one day and Twenty20 side, gets his chance again at Test level. England have mixed up their bowling attacks quite a bit this year, even putting out two spinners against Bangladesh. That’s probably not going to happen in a Test Match in England against Pakistan, and so spinner Graeme Swann will be leaned on heavily. James Anderson, Stuart Broad and youngster Steve Finn who impressed on his debut in Bangladesh, taking fifteen wickets in his two matches. The third pace bowling attack place is likely to go to Finn, even though Tim Bresnan has been called back into the twelve man squad. This is after Ajmal Shahzad, who also impressed in Bangladesh, picked up an injury, and England do not want to take any chances with him. England will go with a four man bowling attack, six batsman and wicket-keeper Matt Prior who holds his place over Craig Kieswetter.
England v Pakistan Correct Series Score Odds (Four Tests)
England 3-0: 5/1 at Stan James
England 2-1: 11/2 at Bet365
England 2-0: 6/1 at Totesport
Drawn Series 1-1: 8/1 at Totesport
England 3-1: 9/1 at Bet365
Pakistan 2-1: 16/1 at SportingBet
The only thing which will point towards the Ashes at the end of the year, is probably the team building confidence in their own abilities. The conditions in Australia will be vastly different to the ones England will play in against Pakistan, and the players and selectors will be well aware of that. Personnel is bound to change between now and then, but the point is to build a solid core squad to carry with them Down Under, so that one injury in the line up won’t affect the outcome of the match so much. For the first time in some while, England genuinely do have good options and variety to call upon from the squad, and that is exactly the direction in which they need to be heading. For this series, the two main areas for England to concentrate on, will be the stick ability of the opening batsmen, and the bowlers generating enough swing, one of the genuine strengths of the English game.
Top England Bowler:
Graeme Swann: 11/4 at Boylesports
James Anderson: 3/1 at SportingBet
Stuart Broad: 3/1 at Paddy Power
Steve Finn: 5/1 at Bet365
Top England Batsman:
Andrew Strauss: 3/1 at Stan James
Kevin Pietersen: 7/2 at Totesport
Alastair Cook: 5/1 at SportingBet
Jonathan Trott: 6/1 at SportingBet
Paul Collingwood: 7/1 at Bet365
Eoin Morgan: 12/1 at Boylesports
After drawing a recent test series with Australia, Pakistan will be confident of being able to beat England on their home turf. Unfortunately there has always been a lot of politick and in-fighting with the Pakistan cricket team, which often takes the shine of what has the potential of being a very good team. Captain Shahid Afridi walked away from the captaincy after being hammered by the Aussies in the first of the two tests, but new captain Salmon Butt could just be the man to confidently lead the young team forward. What Pakistan do have is a wealth of cricketing talent in their ranks, and time and time again it is often said that they are able to put out the best bowling attack in the world. This is the first time Pakistan have played England at the Test Match level since 2006, when the fourth test between the two sides ended in controversy with Pakistan forfeiting the game after being accused of ball tampering during the match. That was some time ago, and should not really stir up any bad blood between the two teams, but there is always a nice little edge when the two sides meet.
There are two main threats to England from a Pakistan bowling point of view. Firstly, the Pakistan bowlers like Mohammed Asif, the impressive Mohammed Aamer and the wonderful spin of Danish Kaneria can skittle out the top orders of any team in the world. They recently dismissed Australia for 88 all out in the first innings, and any attack which can do that, is dangerous. The second threat comes from the later stages when the ball is getting older, and then Umar Gul, probably the best reverse swing bowler in the world, can really take centre stage. Pakistan are a big threat, and they have been in Test Match mode of late, as opposed to England who have been entertaining the crowds in shorter formats of the game. Their last Test Matches were back in March. So will that give Pakistan a little bit of an advantage? In terms of continuity maybe, but even while they are a technically brilliant side, they are still a little hit and miss, and with England being in their favoured conditions, the playing field is somewhat level.
England squad: Captain Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Eoin Morgan, Matt Prior (wicketkeeper), Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, James Anderson, Steven Finn, Tim Bresnan.
This means that we should be in for a fascinating series. Even though England can be a little frail once their openers get out, they should have the upper hand over the batting line up of Pakistan who themselves are inconsistent. But in the bowling department, Pakistan probably have the edge with a much more clinical attack. Again, this equates to some kind of parity, but with the Ashes edging ever closer, England really need a good, convincing series win to take Down Under. In a busy year of cricket for them, this is another important developmental series for the England cricket team, and they can win this series. How comfortably will be the big question. Out of 43 Test match meetings at home against Pakistan, England have won 17, drawn 18 and lost 8.
