West Indies vs England 1st Test Betting Tips 08/03/2022

March 7, 2022

Zohaib Ahmed, Senior Author

The 1^st Test between West Indies and England will be played at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound, Antigua from March 8 (Tuesday). The match is to begin at 7:30pm IST.

Teams Status

England

This will be England’s first Test assignment since getting embarrassed in the Ashes. They were in the Caribbean in January too, right after the Ashes debacle, when they were beaten 3-2 in a T20I series by the Windies. The Englishmen return to the Caribbean a little more than a month later to play a format they are stronger in and their hosts are misfit fit.

The Caribbean has always been a difficult region to play five-day cricket in for England, who have won just one series there in the last half a century.

That sole series win came in the 2003-04 season when their four-headed pace monster of Steve Harmison, Andrew Flintoff, Simon Jones and Matthew Hoggard ran riots.

Talking about ace pacers, England will be without two of their very best for this tour as they have axed the legendary duo of James Anderson and Stuart Broad. In comes uncapped quartet of Matt Fisher, Alex Lees, Saqib Mahmood and Matt Parkinson. Ben Foakes also returns to the side.

However, pacer Ollie Robinson has been ruled out due to a back spasm, perhaps paving way for Mahmood to make his debut.

West Indies

West Indies’ most recent assignment was a limited overs tour of India where they lost all six matches – three each in ODI and T20I.

As mentioned above, they do have happy memories of their last England clash, which was back in January but in the shortest format. This being a Test series makes memories of that high irrelevant.

The Calypso Kings’ last Test outing was away against Sri Lanka late last year. It goes without saying that they lost both their matches with ease.

At home, they should fare better against a new look England side that is a bit light on experience.

One man who should be kept an eye on is young pacer Jayden Seales, who has already spoken of his plan to exploit England captain Joe Root’s vulnerability to mess with outswingers.

What Do the Sportsbooks Say?

England	Draw	West Indies
2.02	4.60	2.82
2.02	4.60	2.82
2.016	4.56	3.04

England are the favourites for the 1^st Test. Parimatch and Sportsbet have England priced at 2.02, West Indies at 2.82 and Draw at 4.60. Meanwhile, Paripesa has England available for 2.016, West Indies for 3.04 and Draw for 4.56.

Tipster’s Angle

Tip: England to win @ 2.02

This could potentially be a banana peel of a skin and England might get tested to the fullest, but we still expect them to prevail. Despite being lighter on talent than before, they still are much more powerful than West Indies. Joe Root somehow managed to hang on to his captaincy despite a major overhaul following the Ashes debacle. Therefore, this series is doubly important for him and we think he would inspire his side to produce a reaction. The odds have been sourced from Parimatch.

Tip: Ben Stokes to score more than 25.5 runs @ 1.87

Another man we expect to have a monster series is England’s star allrounder Ben Stokes. He recently admitted that he was not in his best physical shape during the Ashes and let “myself down”, which is why he probably will be trying harder to bounce back. And knowing Stokes, when he sets his mind to a certain target, he most often than not gets there. The odds have been sourced from Parimatch.

Conclusion

As we said above, England can have their spot(s) of bother but we expect them to establish a position of advantage early even if they have to fight tooth and nail to get there.

Zohaib Ahmed

22:53, 7 Mar 2022

Senior Author

Zohaib Ahmed

Senior Author

22:53, 7 Mar 2022

Zohaib Ahmed is a sports journalist whose profession is to report and edit but whose passion is to predict and bet. He’s been in the industry for more than a decade and has worked/written for various bookmakers/tipsters. His expertise is in cricket, football, MMA, boxing and basketball.