The Rose Bowl, in Southampton is the venue for the 2^nd Test between England and Pakistan and the action gets going on Thursday. We take a look at the match and suggest a few bets.

England opened up a 1-0 series lead winning in Manchester last week, but for long periods of the game they were under pressure and Pakistan will be kicking themselves for not getting the win.

Pakistan batted first and scored 326 with Masood being top contributor with a 156. England then went in and were bundled out for 219 with only Pope standing firm with his 62. At that stage Pakistan were very short priced to win the match and they only had to bat reasonably to put themselves in an unassailable position. Unfortunately their batting let them down though and they were bundled out for a 169 leaving England to chase 277 for the win. Jos Buttler and Chris Woakes saw them home for England’s 3^rd Test victory in succession having beaten West Indies in the last two tests in their previous series.

• 

1

SERIES BETTING UPDATE – Click here to bet on the Test Series

England have shortened to 1/10 to win the series with the draw now 17/2 and Pakistan on offer at 16/1. England are as short as 11/10 to win the series 3-0 and in the Top Home Batsman Market, Buttler is now the favourite at 27/20.

MATCH BETTING

England 1/1

Draw 12/5

West Indies 3/1                                     

England are firm favourites to win the 2^nd Test and indications are that we are going to have good weather in Southampton with rain playing very little role. They will be without Ben Stokes though and he won’t be easy to replace.

BET: Pakistan to win the match at 3/1

England are worthy favourites after coming back for the win and there is a chance that Pakistan will be down in the dumps, but at the same time they can look at that performance in the 1^st Test and know if they just batted better in the 2^nd innings they would have and probably should have won. I can’t see the draw being a runner here and so the 3/1, in what is in my opinion effectively a two horse race appeals as a value bet.

BET: Total Match 6’s, England under 2.5 at 11/10

The last Test Match played in Southampton was the 1^st Test against the West Indies and here the ball dominated and there were no 6’s in the match. While I do expect a few more runs this time around I think there is some value in England getting two 6’s or less.

Click Here to bet on England v Pakistan 2^nd Test

Note: All prices correct at the time of writing but are subject to change