West Indies v England ODI Series....England runs away with it.



Starts Friday 20th March, Providence, 13.30 GMT
Sky Sports 1

They say there is a thin line between bravery and foolishness. On the face of it, after thirteen games in all formats without a solitary win on this winters tours for England, it will take a brave or a foolish person to side with them in this ODI series.

Well you can call me brave, call me foolish, but I am going to side with England here. No I have not lost my marbles; no I have not fallen over and hit my head on the floor, no I have not being kidnapped by aliens. I am backing England of my own free will and here are the reasons why:

This winter has seen England lose both the Test and ODI series in India. They lost the Tests 1-0 and were humbled 5-0 in the ODI series. After a brief interlude England then tried their luck in the West Indies. They again lost the Test Series 1-0, and the latest setback saw them embarrassed in the only Twenty20 game.

Excuses are sometimes frowned upon in sport, but I am going to come up with some to explain the main reasons why England have fared so badly in all formats this winter.

Let’s get the Twenty20 slogfest out of the way first. The game was lost before a bowl was bowled as England got their tactics and selection wrong. On a slow pitch they picked three pacers and a spinner that had not played for England in a few years. The tactics of the batsmen showed amazing naivety for players that should now know better. They went hammer and tongs trying to set a massive score when the pitch should have indicated to them that 150 would have been a decent effort. In this mad rush for runs, the top order resorted to unorthodox shots bordering on exhibitionism. It failed miserably as the top order was blown away and a miserly 121 was never going to be enough.

In the Tests in both India and West Indies England’s biggest problem was taking twenty wickets. Their pace bowlers on slow pitches were never effective and their spinners were not of the highest quality needed on these pitches. England scored more then enough runs on both tours, but it was the bowling that let them down.

The 5-0 ODI loss in India was disappointing, but with India in awesome form in this format and the best ODI side in the world at present, that defeat was nothing to be ashamed of and India will do the same to most sides on current form.

Ok, excuses over, what’s going to change in this series. Why am I siding with England?

I mentioned earlier that scoring runs, on the whole and apart from the 51 all out in Jamaica, has not been a major problem for England. The problem has been taking twenty wickets to win a Test Match.

The good news for them is that in this ODI fifty over format, they do not need to take twenty wickets. They do not even need to take ten wickets! What they need to do is score one more run then the Windies do in each game to prevail.

Apart from that 5-0 loss to India, England’s ODI form has been pretty decent. They beat England 4-3 at home in 2007, followed it up with a great series win in Sri Lanka and after a blip against New Zealand at home, they demolished South Africa 4-0 last summer.

One-Day Internationals Series results: West Indies v England

England in West Indies ODI Series	1980/81		West Indies	2-0
England in West Indies ODI Series	1985/86		West Indies	3-1
England in West Indies	1989/90		abandoned	0-0
England in West Indies	1989/90		West Indies	1-0
England in West Indies ODI Series	1989/90		West Indies	3-0
England in West Indies ODI Series	1993/94		West Indies	3-2
England in West Indies ODI Series	1997/98		West Indies	4-1
England in West Indies ODI Series	2003/04		Drawn	2-2

Key to all those wins was that England scored a hatful of runs. They had a strong batting lineup that batted all the way down and in the fifty over format they seem to have got their tactics and selections spot on.

So the 64,000 dollar question for this series is can England put aside their miserable form in the other formats this winter and return to winning ways in this fifty over format ?

I say a resounding yes!

I say they will score more then enough runs over the five games to prevail in this series, and prevail comfortably. The need all of a sudden not to take twenty wickets but to score as many runs as possible will suit them to the ground and I believe they have the depth in batting to post or chase big scores.

West Indies are on a high. They playing with confidence, they playing together as a unit like they not done for years. Chris Gayle is an inspirational skipper and they will be boosted by his return from injury for this series.

The main problem for the Windies though is going to be their bowling attack. Apart from the magical spells by Edwards and Taylor in the 51 all out innings in Jamaica, the Windies bowling has lacked penetration and England have not had much problem scoring big runs, at a quick rate, throughout the test series.

I believe the same pattern will continue in this ODI series and England will again find run scoring easier then taking wickets.

Ok, so what the bet?

England are 2.18 to win the series with West Indies a shade odds on. These prices are wrong in my opinion and should be reversed and reversed a long way. I believe England should be long odds on to prevail and the 2.18 represents great value.

I am also tempted by the Series Correct Score market and believe England will win the series comprehensively.

My suggested bets for this series therefore are:

In the Series Outright Market:

BACK England to win for 5 points @ 2.18 on Betfair

In the Series Correct Score Market:

BACK England to Win 5-0 for 1 point @ 17.0 Coral, Bet365, 888sport, Ladbrokes
BACK England to Win 4-1 for 2 points @ 6.0 Coral

Join me and let’s see England score more then enough runs to run away with this series.

Bigjoe