The second test match between England and West Indies gets underway at Old Trafford, Manchester on Thursday 16th July and after edging a thrilling first contest its the Windies who hold the series lead.
The opening match of the series saw England trading as 3/10 favourites but West Indies proved to be the upsetters and they came out on top by 4 wickets. The visitors are now 1 up with 2 to play so another shock result, here or in the third test which will also be staged at Old Trafford, would give them a series win.
Let's recap on what happened at Southampton.
England won the toss and opted to bat first, Shannon Gabriel removed the top 3 in the hosts batting line up and went onto to claim a total of 4 victims and skipper Jason Holder bettered that with 6 wickets as England were all out for 204 (Stokes 43, Buttler 35).
In reply West Indies posted 318 with opener Brathwaite (65) and wicket keeper Dowritch (61) the top scorers, Ben Stokes took 4 wickets and Jimmy Anderson 3.
England fought back to make 313 (Crawley 65, Sibley 50, Stokes 46) in their second innings although at 249/3 they would have hoped for more. Gabriel took 5 more wickets to take his tally to 9 which earned him the Man of the Match award.
Heading into the final day England were slight favourites and even more so when Windies slumped to 27/3. Jermaine Blackwood batting at 6 proved to be the difference, making 95 as West Indies clsoed the game out on 200/6 (Archer took 3 wickets).
This was how the teams lined up for the first test.
England: Ben Stokes (c), James Anderson, Jofra Archer, Dominic Bess, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler (wk), Zak Crawley, Joe Denly, Ollie Pope, Dom Sibley, Mark Wood
West Indies:
Jason Holder (c), Jermaine Blackwood, Kraigg Brathwaite, Shamarh Brooks, John Campbell, Roston Chase, Shane Dowrich, Shai Hope, Alzarri Joseph, Kemar Roach, Shannon Gabriel
2nd Test Manchester.
England expect skipper Joe Root to return to the team after he missed the first test. Stand in captain Ben Stokes was the hosts best performer at Southampton but they now have no margin for error. One would expect the West Indies to stick with the side who won the first test. The weather forecast will be worth keeping an eye on although at the time of writing is looked pretty good..
Over the last decade England have won 3, drawn 1 and lost 1 of the 5 test matches at Old Trafford. The defeat came in last years Ashes series against Australia.
The Betting:
2nd Test Match Winner
England 4/10
Draw 7/1
West Indies 7/2
Series Betting
Despite being 1-0 down England are still odds on at around 8/11 to win the series with a draw trading around 5/1 and its 2/1 against the Windies. The visitors are 15/10 with a draw no bet option.
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change
The Verdict:
That was a terrific effort from West Indies at Southampton but having received a wake up and with with Joe Root back England should be a stronger proposition here.
I think we will see a higher scoring game and I like the look of WSB's Batsmen to score a 50 in the match market. Ben Stokes fits the bill after his efforts in the first test whilst Rory Burns is a player I have plenty of time for and I fancy he can contribute significantly here.
Bets:
Batsman to score a 50 in the match Ben Stokes? (yes) at 11/10
Batsman to score a 50 in the match Rory Burns? (yes) at 12/10
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