THE EDGE: The Edge previews the 1st ODI between WEST INDIES v ENGLAND with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
West Indies v England 1st ODI
MATCH OVERVIEW:
England are back in action as they begin their tour of the West Indies on BETDAQ Betting Exchange with the 1st ODI on Thursday. It’s yet another example of how hectic the England schedule is – they only finished their Test series with Pakistan a matter of days ago, however having different white ball and red ball squads has become normal from an England point of view. There aren’t many sides in world cricket that could actually do this, probably only India have the talent along with England, but you have to admit that it’s not ideal. England’s last white ball series probably suffered against Australia given it was so close to the Test series against Sri Lanka.
Captain Jos Buttler has had a setback with his calf injury, and he is set to miss the ODI series at least. That’s four months out now, and obviously it’s not ideal given the new white ball set up – although Brendon McCullum hasn’t fully taken over as white ball coach yet. Liam Livingstone will captain the side which is a remarkable turnaround given he was dropped from the ODI squad against Australia – he only got back in after two superb knocks in the T20 side, but this is definitely a young England side. Jofra Archer is in the squad though, and it will be interesting to see how many games he plays given the ECB continue to “manage his workload.”
From a West Indies point of view, they will see this as an excellent opportunity to win a series against England. If you look at what Cricinfo label the England players as, they don’t actually have an all-out batter in the squad. Everyone is a batting allrounder, and while that is generally the case with the younger guys these days, we could see a few England collapses on what should be a very interesting tour.
WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:
We begin the series at North Sound in Antigua. England tour the West Indies a lot given the money it produces in the Caribbean, and they will know conditions well here. This is the first ODI of the year here – England played here twice in 2023. They posted 325 all out and West Indies chased it down, and then West Indies were all out for 202 and England chased it down easily in 32.5 overs. We had a lot of cricket at the T20 World Cup here during the summer, and we didn’t exactly have easy batting conditions either. I would keep an open mind on the scoring heading into this game.
RECOMMENDED BET:
Keeping stakes low heading into this first game is a must in my opinion. This is a very fresh and young England side, and it will be interesting to see how they perform – we’ll learn as we go on with this series! England come into the game as the odds on favourites, which isn’t a surprise given all the troubles West Indies seemingly go through every year, but I do feel the game will be closer than the odds suggest and West Indies are worth backing at 2.25 or bigger. I do expect England to improve as the series goes on, but West Indies can take advantage here.
The Edge Says:
One point win West Indies to beat England at 2.25 with Betdaq Exchange
View the market here -> https://betdaq.biz/WesEng1
IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:
As I said above, I would have a pretty open mind on scoring conditions here coming into this game. We saw a big range of scores at the T20 World Cup here, and although we can’t read too much into that, it definitely puts me off going into this game expecting big scores. England have a young side, and West Indies are hardly reliable with the bat! Depending on conditions, I do want to take on the England bowling outside of Jofra Archer – I feel that’s where we’re going to see the most market movement.
