Warner Park in Basseterre is the setting for the second Twenty20 match involving West Indies and England and armchair fans can follow the play live on Sky Sports from Friday 8 March. With the coin expected to go up at 8.00pm GMT this tie will attract a healthy audience who will see the match for what it is, an excellent addition to a fantastic weekend of sport. Here are our top West Indies v England 2nd T20 betting tips.
There’s certainly no lack of betting opportunities as major bookmakers give customers the chance to boost their balance whilst enjoying the play. Bet wisely and you could earn a profit in plenty of time for Saturday, when horse racing and football take over.
Traders price the match winner and are stuck on the fence when it comes to deciding on who to support. They have made the market competitive, deciding to stay clear and allow backers to work it out for themselves. That indecisiveness is understandable given just how close England’s tour of the West Indies has been so far, but it’ll also catch the eye of value hunters who love nothing more than seizing on the mistakes of bookmakers.
Where should you place your stake money to give you the best chance of netting a return? Our talented team of cricket tipsters aim to help with that and after running over the form of figures, they return with their picks in the 2nd T20, as well as which firms are offering best odds on the most popular bets.
Tourists Off to a Strong Start
England got off to a winning start when claiming the 1st Twenty20 match of a three-game series on Tuesday and that result caught many keeping tabs on this tour by surprise, with Windies the favourites to continue their form. The final scores read England 161-6 (18.5) against 160-8 (20.0) of West Indies, gifting the visitors victory by a margin of four wickets.
An enthralling contest and one that made England work hard for the spoils, but they were fully deserving of the result and it would’ve injected much-needed confidence into the ranks at a crucial stage of the year. England have bigger and better things to focus on in the short-term future, hosting the World Cup this summer, but the current crop of players must prove deserving of a place on the team when things get important. The best way to do that is by pulling their weight in the build-up.
The tourists have blown hot and cold since arriving in the West Indies, flitting between sublime and woeful. They broke their own record run-chase earlier in the tour, but the same group of players put in an abysmal performance when going from 418-6 to 113 all out. That’s quite incredible, especially in such a short space of time and it had both the coaching staff and fans at a loss to put their finger on just what went wrong.
Bairstow Shines
Victory in the 1st T20 was a real team effort from all involved and it was also a performance that helped answer a few of their critics, but we have to single out the efforts of Jonny Bairstow for particular praise as he played some of the best cricket we’ve seen from him in England colours. The star recorded a personal best 68 and that helped nudge his teammates in the right direction against a below-par opponent who just didn’t look at the races.
Were England really that good that day or did West Indies gift them the result? It does appear to be a little bit of both as the tourists played some fantastic cricket at times, but Windies offered little fight and were reeled in and beaten without too much fuss. The hosts can point the finger of blame at some loose bowling, lapse fielding and even alarming dropped catches. If you are a fan of West Indies this is best filed under one to forget and the players advised to put it to the back of their minds and move on.
Bairstow was obviously pleased with his performance but preferred to credit the team when speaking to the press at the game’s conclusion. The wicketkeeper/batsman thought his men adapted well when faced with the new ball and they did what was expected of them when chasing down a 160 that looked there to be shot at. An enjoyable outing for the winning side and they’ll fancy more of the same.
Traders Remain Unconvinced
Coral traders don’t really know what to make of this match on the back of both sides throwing in stinkers at different times. There’s no doubt Windies are capable of firing back, while England’s best to go 2-0 would surprise no one. The West Indies win is 10/11 with Coral and that price is shared by the away team who can also be backed at 10/11. Talk about being stuck in the middle.
So, who should you trust? West Indies are certainly capable of better but there was a sense of optimism in the England camp following that 1st T20 win and we expect them to explode out of the traps and punish any mistakes made by their hosts. Back England to win the 2nd T20 at 10/11 with Coral. That price will work best in accumulators, but there’s enough there to back as a super single with an increased stake.
If you’d prefer to avoid picking sides in this match, we’d suggest backing Chris Gayle to be top West Indies batsman on Friday. He has been solid during this tour, easily his side’s best player throughout and backers will get a run for their money when taking him at a handy 2/1. In the same market for England we find Alex Hales and Jonny Bairstow as 3/1 joint-favourites, but our vote goes to one at a bigger price in Joe Root at 4/1 – all quotes taken from Coral.