THE EDGE: Our cricket tipster The Edge previews Thursday’s early morning 1st Test between Pakistan v England with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
MATCH OVERVIEW:
Pakistan and England start a massive Test series on BETDAQ Betting Exchange on Thursday morning in Rawalpindi. It still feels like it was only yesterday that the sides faced each other in the T20 World Cup Final, but International cricket moves very fast these days and here we are. This will be a huge test for England under Brendon McCullum who has had great success in his role, but he’s still relatively new. It will be very interesting to see does England’s attacking nature carry on away from home on pitches that might not suit those tactics.
Six wins out of seven with the best attacking cricket ever seen in Test cricket, yet the jury is still definitely out on McCullum. He has doubled down in the press conferences leading into this series saying England will be pushing for results, even if it means losing. The wicket will have to be very flat to see a draw here, but as always in these conditions it isn’t trading too high. It’s currently 3.35 at the time of writing. It’s worth noting that we have a shorter window for day light in Rawalpindi meaning play starts at the earlier than usual 10am local time, and it will likely be dark around 5pm local time. One wonders how many overs will be lost – teams play slow these days!
All eyes will be on England here, their first visit for Test cricket in 17 years, and it will be fascinating to see what tactics they employ. We all know that Pakistan are a very strong side in their own conditions, and with such a long gap in International cricket not coming to Pakistan, getting a good read on conditions can be tough. Mark Wood is definitely out for England, but this Pakistan bowling is an impressive unit and that could give them the edge. That being said, batting conditions were good here for the Australian Test which finished a draw. Everything to play for as England return to Pakistan!
WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:
Rawalpindi is a complete sell-out, which will be fantastic to see in Test cricket. It’s not often we see sell0out crowds for Test cricket these days, and that’s some much needed good press after we saw Australia and England play an ODI series in front of empty stands. Rawalpindi is known for being good for batting, and since International cricket returned in 2019 there has been two draws from four games. One of the results was against Bangladesh which is to be expected. The wicket was very good for batting when Australia played here in March – we didn’t see many wickets with the scores Pakistan 476/4 and 252/0 while Australia scored 459 in their first innings. We saw better bowling conditions in the South African series the year before, and maybe Pakistan could benefit from a wicket that offers a little. If it’s flat I can see England attacking and racking up a good score.
RECOMMENDED BET:
Given England’s approach, it always makes me feel that a draw is unlikely. However, there are reasons to not lay the draw here – the sunlight is going to be an issue towards close of play each day and then we could have a flat wicket too. The vibes at the moment is the wicket has looked good for batting as the teams trained in the stadium. That makes me want to keep the draw on side here, and I feel the best option is the Pakistan lay at 2.28. You have to fully respect Pakistan in their own conditions, but this England test side is in a good position at the moment and if we do get a good wicket they can throw the Pakistan bowlers off their line and length quite quickly – it’s also nice to have the draw on our side too given the worries mentioned above.
The Edge Says:
Two points lay (liability) Pakistan to beat England at 2.28 with Betdaq Exchange.
View the market here -> https://betdaq.biz/PakEng1
IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:
Although we do start earlier, we could easily have bad light issues here towards the end of each day, so that’s definitely an option on the draw trade as we could lose overs towards the evening. That’s a nice little edge to focus on each day. From a team point of view, with good batting conditions expected I feel we’ll see pretty high scores here. That being said, we’ll have to wait and confirm those conditions because we saw wickets tumble in the South African series here in 2021. With this England side, it seems wise to ride the momentum when they get going with the bat because they have become so attacking.
