Betting Guide - Eng V West Indies, 1st ODI

Cricket Betting Guide

After a good thrashing in the Test series, Chris Gayle and his West Indies team will be looking to bounce back in the One Day series starting today at Headingley. West Indies seem far happier and are far more competitive in the 50 over format of the game and the arrival of Dwayne Bravo will further boost them on what has so far been a disasterous tour.

England - who have struggled in this form of the game for years now - have injury concerns with Kevin Pietersen now joining Andrew Flintoff on the sidelines. The official word on Pietersen is that he is resting a sore Achilles as purely a precaution, but with the summer of cricket England have coming up the camp must be privately worried given the usual tricky nature of Achilles injuries.



It would appear to be a straight choice between Ian Bell or an England debut for Irishman Eoin Morgan to replace Pietersen. The rest of the side is beginning to pick itself with Andersen and Broad now the established new ball opening partnership in both forms of the game, Ravi Bopara will be looking to cement his place at the top of the order after a successful Test series while Owais Shah will want to put the disappointment of his Test omission behind him when he returns in place of Alastair Cook. The only other probable change to the England side will be Dimitri Mascarenhas in for Graham Onions.

West Indies will be all the stronger for the return of Bravo and also will probally draft in Kieron Pollard as well with both slotting into the middle order. Lendl Simmons will move up to open the batting with Brendan Nash and Devon Smith both dropping out. With rain in the air today in Leeds you might want to take John Dyson into consideration when betting as Duckworth/Lewis could come into play later today - surely he couldn't do it twice though. In the event of a washout toady Betfair seem to be the only company offering odds on a drawn series, this can be backed at 8/1 at the moment.

Betting - Best Odds

1st ODI match, 21st May.

England are 8/11 with 888sport, Blue Square, Totesport and William Hill.
West Indies are 6/5 with Bet365, Boylesports, Sky Bet and Sportingbet.


Series Outright

England are 4/6 with Sportingbet, William Hill, 888sport, Blue Square and Boylesports.
West Indies are 11/8 with Ladbrokes.
Drawn Series is 8/1 with Betfair.

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