England v Bangladesh Test Series

By Bigjoe

Commences Thursday May 27th, 10.00 GMT

Sky Sports 1 (From 10:00), Sky Sports HD1 (From 10:00)

Just a few days after their jubilant World Twenty20 success, England kick off the home summer with what looks on paper like a gentle warm up exercise against the minnows from Bangladesh.

Bangladesh’s confidence will not have been enhanced by them losing emphatically in their recent warm up game against Essex. That loss and the recent impressive test form of England would appear to indicate that this mini two test series should be one way traffic to a convincing 2-0 series whitewash for England.

However, we would all be multimillionaires if everything always went according to the script in sport. History is littered with examples of major sporting upsets, and whilst I agree England could wrap this series up comfortably, I am also long enough in the tooth to realise that this is also potentially a banana slipping series for the hosts.

Bangladesh will see drawing one of the two tests as a major achievement and will be setting out their stall to do just that. But as we know, setting out stalls is one thing, ensuring they are not demolished is another!

The pitches for this series will offer some hope to Bangladesh. The first Test is at Lords, a pitch that has become flatter with each passing year with the drawn games becoming more and more the norm. Bangladesh have some promising young batsmen that are capable on batting paradises of hanging around a lot longer then they tend to do on other surfaces. I can see them excelling in at least one of their innings at Lords and making life difficult for the England bowlers. Taking 20 wickets on this pitch will not be a foregone conclusion and I believe Bangladesh are more then capable of achieving their objective of a draw there.

The 2nd Test will be at Old Trafford. This will be a double edged sword for Bangladesh as this pitch is normally lively and bouncy and the Bangladesh batsmen could struggle to cope. However, this pitch has also been a good hunting ground for spinners as the turn is sharp and bouncy, and the predominantly spin attack of Bangladesh could embarrass England on there.

There is a whiff of complacency in England’s choice of squad for this series. Paul Collingwood and Stuart Broad have been rested. Many a team have come croppers through complacency in the past and at Lords we could see England come to regret their decision.

Overall, I believe that because of the nature of the pitches on offer, and for minimal stakes, it’s well worth opposing an England whitewash in this series. Bangladesh are more then capable of at least drawing one of the Tests and therefore my suggested bets for this series are:

In the Series Outright Market:

LAY England for 1 point liability@ 1.09 on Betfair .

In the Series Correct Score Market:

LAY England winning 2-0 for 3 points liability @ 1.36 on Betfair

BACK 0-0 Drawn Series for 1 point @ 51.0 at Stan James .

Bigjoe