Adil Rashid heads Richard Mann's staking plan when England kick off their white-ball tour of the Caribbean on Thursday evening.
Cricket betting tips: West Indies v England ODI
2pts Adil Rashid top England bowler at 3/1 (General)
2pts Shai Hope top West Indies batsman at 10/3 (Sky Bet, bet365)
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England start another international series on Thursday, yes another one, when North Sound plays host to the first of three ODIs, starting at 6.00pm, UK time.
The quick turnaround from the recent Test defeat in Pakistan means the majority of England’s red-ball stars are absent, but there is still plenty of quality in the squad.
Liam Livingstone will captain, and it will be fascinating to see how he performs with that added responsibility, given how well he responded when pushed up the order in the shortest format against Australia in late summer.
I did toy with the idea of getting with Livingstone in the player performance markets, especially with the pitches in the Caribbean meaning he should do plenty of bowling.
However, I’ll stick with a couple bets for the series opener, and ADIL RASHID (3/1) heads the staking plan in the top England bowler market.
Conditions in the Caribbean usually offer spinners plenty to work with, and that most certainly applies on this ground judging by recent evidence, so Rashid is expected to prove England’s key weapon against a West Indies batting line-up that I’m still not convinced plays spin that well.
I’d point to Rashid’s record against West Indies as the basis for that argument, 20 wickets at an average of 26.15 in this format and 32 wickets at 12.06 in T20Is making for impressive reading. Those numbers are marginally better on these shores.
Rashid shows no signs of decline even as he approaches his 37th birthday, and I reckon he’ll enjoy another good tour as he gets to work on an opposition middle order that may again struggle against such high-class wrist-spin.
It's important to note that I'd recommend placing this bet with a bookmaker settling a tie in the top bowler market with dead-head rules.
Paddy Power and Betfair Sportsbook are top price at 7/2, but those firms settle a tie on the least number of runs conceded, so I'll be taking the 3/1 widely available elsewhere.
I'd expect the hosts to go after Rashid, hopefully increasing his chances of picking up wickets, but those wickets will likely come at a price, and I don't want to lose out on a tie on runs conceded.
To finish off, I won't miss SHAI HOPE for top West Indies batsman.
Despite a quieter time against Sri Lanka most recently, Hope boasts an outstanding record in this format, with his average currently standing at 49.14, 16 hundreds and 25 fifties further enhancing his credentials.
Those are extremely strong numbers and when England toured these shores just over a year ago, Pope top scored in two of the three ODIs, courtesy of a brilliant, unbeaten 109 in the series opener and 68 in the second match.
Unlike many of his colleagues, I have no doubts about Pope's ability to play spin in the middle overs and crucially, we know he tends to go big once set.
He looks good business at 10/3 (Sky Bet, bet365).
Posted at 0745 BST on 30/10/24
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