Former England skipper and Betfair ambassador Michael Vaughan takes a look at the upcoming Test series between England and the West Indies and struggles to see anything but a home win. Is he right, or are England in danger of taking the tourists – who pushed Australia hard in the recent Test series out in the Caribbean – too lightly? Let us know your views by tweeting us at @AllOutCricket or emailing us at comments@alloutcricket.com.
Vaughan says: “In their own conditions, England are a formidable Test side and, weather permitting, 3-0 is very much on the cards. Expect Jimmy Anderson to shine with the ball throughout the series and my shout is for Ian Bell to pile on the runs at Lord’s.
“After a pretty disappointing winter in the UAE and Sri Lanka, which included a series whitewash against Misbah-ul-Haq’s Pakistan side and a hard-fought drawn series against Sri Lanka, England are back on home soil.
“And we all know what that means – Anderson, Stuart Broad and company swinging the ball around corners and opposition batsmen edging the ball time and again into the gloves of Matt Prior and the grateful hands of Andrew Strauss and Graeme Swann in the slips. Well, that’s the plan anyway.
“A lot has been said about what went wrong during the winter so we won’t go over all that again. Suffice to say this is a wonderful opportunity for England to whitewash an inexperienced West Indies side in favourable conditions. Of the Windies’ likely top seven, only Shivnarine Chanderpaul has experience of playing over here before. The little left-hander will be the absolute key wicket and will make life tough for England’s bowlers, but beyond him it’s hard to see who is going to spend enough time at the crease to get big, matchwinning scores.
“I like both Fidel Edwards and Kemar Roach and they can both produce spells of rapid pace bowling. But using the cherry in English conditions is a skill that takes a fair bit of getting used to, especially at Lord’s, the venue for the first Test, where the slope provides a unique feature that has caused trouble for some of the finest bowlers in the game.
“Unless one of the three Tests is heavily affected by rain and we lose more than a day’s play, I can’t see any outcome in the series other than a whitewash. So 3-0 to England in the Series score market at 2.7 (1/1) is an obvious starting point as far as our wagers go.
“James Anderson is for me the best fast bowler in the world with the possible exception of Dale Steyn. Bowling with the new ball in England in May against an inexperienced batting line-up, Anderson will feel like a kid in a sweet shop. Like all the best bowlers, he’ll be targeting five-wicket hauls, not just the odd wicket here and there, and he looks the man to side with as the series top wicker-taker at around 3.5 (2/1).
“A big element of England’s success over the past couple of years has been their consistency in terms of selection. It’s been very much the same 12 or 13 players who have featured in series after series and they’ve kept their places by delivering big performances. Eoin Morgan was probably the one player who didn’t quite play to the level that both he and the selectors would have hoped and that’s cost him his place in the Test side, at least for the time being. But the others have all contributed.
“That said, we have a new face in the Test side – Jonny Bairstow. Whether he would have been selected ahead of a fit Ravi Bopara is something we may never know, but it’s provided the Yorkshireman with a golden chance to prove he’s ready to play at this level.
“Bairstow’s two biggest assets are that he seems to score runs for his county when they really need him to and that he is an extremely phlegmatic young man, nothing seems to faze him. In addition to that he can play the big shots, as well as being solid in defence, so all in all we have an exciting young prospect who looks to have all the assets to be a really good international batsman.
“Lord’s in May can be a really difficult place to score runs. I’m almost certain the ball will swing early on so life could be tough for the openers on both sides. I don’t think Andrew Strauss will be that worried about the outcome of the toss because he’ll be confident that his bowlers can exploit favourable conditions and that his batsmen have the experience to deal with the moving ball. But Darren Sammy may think his team’s best chance is to bowl first and take early wickets to put England under the right amount of pressure.
“A win for the Three Lions looks a sure thing to me at 1.47 but rather than take that pretty short price, I prefer a punt that the match will end on the afternoon session of day four, at 9.2. I think England will be capable of posting a score of over 400 at least once, which will take time to compile, so I don’t think it will all be over before the end of day three.
“Batting may be tough early on so I’ll be giving the top-order a miss and siding with someone in the middle-order for England’s batting honours. Kevin Pietersen would be an obvious choice but I actually prefer the chances of Ian Bell, who has been in fine county form and has a habit of scoring runs early on in a series.”
Vaughan’s Suggested Tips:
Back England to win the series 3-0 @ around 2.78
Back James Anderson to be top series wicket-taker @ around 2.94
Back Afternoon Day 4 in the First Match Test End market @ around 9.2
Back Ian Bell to be England First Innings top batsman @ around 6.4
