England and West Indies are in action in the ICC Cricket World Cup at the Rose Bowl, Southampton on Friday and we look to the top bat markets for a betting interest.
England:
England’s last outing came against Bangladesh in Cardiff last Saturday and they came out on top by 106 runs to give them an overall record of 2 wins and 1 defeat. Jason Roy was the star performer, smashing 153 of England’s bat first total of 386/6 with the other major contributions coming from Bairstow (51) and Buttler (64). England then bowled Bangladesh out for 280 with Archer and Stokes both taking 3 wickets. Jos Buttler picked up an injury so watch the media for news of his fitness ahead of this game.
England’s tournament began with a 104 run victory over the Proteas at the Oval but they were on the wrong end of a shock result in their second outing, going down to Pakistan in Nottingham by 14 runs.
England are currently 22/10 favourites to win the tournament, they are 8/10 to reach the final and 1/10 to reach the semi finals.
Jason Roy is leading run scorer for England with 215, Jos Buttler has 185 and Joe Root is next best with 179. Jofra Archer is leading wicket taker with 6, Ben Stokes has 5 and Moeen Ali and Mark Wood have 4.
This was how England lined up against Bangladesh last time out.
Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan (capt), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (wk), Chris Woakes, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Liam Plunkett, Mark Wood
West Indies:
West Indies hopes of a second win of the tournament were thwarted by rain which saw their match up with the Proteas at this venue on Monday abandoned after just 7.3 overs. Sheldon Cottrell struck twice early doors for Windies before the players left the field with South Africa on 29/2 and no further play was possible.
West Indies had started their campaign with a more than comfortable 7 wicket win over Pakistan at Nottingham and next time out they had their chances to beat Australia at the same venue, a game they eventually lost by 14 runs.
In the outright tournament betting West Indies are now trading at 10/1 to be crowned champions, 4/1 to reach the final and 5/4 to reach the semi finals.
Shai Hope is leading run scorer for West Indies with 79, Nicholas Pooran has 74 and Chris Gayle 71. Oshane Thomas is leading wicket taker for West Indies with 6, Sheldon Cottrell has 5, Andre Russell and Jason Holder both have 4.
This is how West Indies lined up against South Africa last time out. Note, Andre Russell missed the Proteas game after picking up a knock against Australia so watch out for news of his well being.
Chris Gayle, Shai Hope (wk), Darren Bravo, Nicholas Pooran, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder (capt), Carlos Brathwaite, Ashley Nurse, Kemar Roach, Sheldon Cottrell, Oshane Thomas
Head to Head
The teams have met 101 times with England winning 51, West Indies have won 44 with 6 no results,
The teams met in the Caribbean in February / March this year and a 5 match series finished all square at 2-2 with 1 match washed out.
The Betting, Click here for all markets
England 1 / 3
West Indies 5/2
Note prices quoted are correct at the time of publication but are subject to change.
Verdict:
West Indies will relish the opportunity to have a crack at the tournament favourites but its a big ask and one concern would be the lack of time in the middle for their batsman. Whilst England have knocked up 3 scores of 300+ Windies have completed a straight forward run chase against Pakistan and they didn’t get to bat against the Proteas so their only innings of substance came against Australia.
How Windies handle Jofra Archer’s bowling will be key and I prefer to look a little further down their order for a top bat pick with a speculative play on Nicholas Pooran at a nice price.
There might also be some value in England skipper Eoin Morgan to top score for his side. Morgan dropped down the order against Bangladesh but unless the England openers go deep I don’t see that happening again here against what will be a fired up Windies bowling attack.
Suggested Bets:
Top West Indies bat, Pooran at 13/2
Top England bat, Morgan at 11/2
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