THE EDGE: Our cricket tipster The Edge previews Friday’s early morning 2nd Test between Pakistan v England with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
MATCH OVERVIEW:
After one of the most enthralling Test matches for many years, Pakistan and England are back in action on Friday morning on BETDAQ Betting Exchange. I always find it interesting to see the reaction to “Bazball” online – opinions are decided entirely by the result. If England win, it’s a masterclass and a wonderful declaration. When it looked like Pakistan might chase it down, it was a “silly” decision by England! It’s likely England will play the same way for a while now, and opinions will chop and change based on results. The reality is, on a very boring wicket; we all tuned in for the final day after the declaration didn’t we? That’s good for cricket, whatever the result.
Babar Azam commented after the Test that Pakistan didn’t get the wicket they wanted. It will be interesting to see what the ground staff are told to do in Multan. Surely from a Pakistan point of view you’d want to see a spinning wicket – if it’s in any way good for batting then this England batting line-up are just going to keep attacking. I feel the way to beat this England side is create a wicket that’s good for the bowlers, and let the England batters attack and likely lose their wicket early – we’ve watched plenty of England collapses over the last few years as they keep on attacking.
England will be without Liam Livingstone for the rest of the tour with a knee injury, and Haris Rauf is out for Pakistan too. Jimmy Anderson said the 1st Test was one of the best wins he was ever involved in, but it’s a hectic schedule – just three days between Tests, and after 46 overs on the fifth day he faces a battle to get his 40-year-old body ready to go again quickly. As always with this England side, it’s never dull, it’s always entertaining – you just have to watch them!
WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:
The Pakistan captain was quoted after the 1st Test that they “have a lot of input in the pitch, but we didn’t get the one we wanted.” Surely there is a reaction here. There will be harsh words if they ask for a spinning wicket here and we get another flat one. Whether or not England will be as attacking now they have a series lead remains to be seen, especially with just a three Test series. We haven’t seen a Test match here since 2006, obviously most of the headlines last week were England returning to play Pakistan in Test cricket after 17 years so a lot of grounds in Pakistan have records like that. Such was the gap in International sides willing to tour Pakistan, we actually have never had an International T20 here! In the days where T20 is the money spinner, that highlights the inactivity in Pakistan. We did have three ODI’s here in June and scored was good – the first inning scores were 305/8, 275/8 and 269/9 (48 over game).
RECOMMENDED BET:
We landed a lay on Pakistan in the 1st Test, and as expected the market has adjusted. Remember the seven game T20 series here before the T20 World Cup; Pakistan started heavy favourites but as the series went on everyone saw England were the stronger side and they actually ended up being the odds on favourites for the final few games. We have a much more open market this time, with Pakistan out to 2.5 The draw will likely see a lot of action again, but it’s going to be hard to commit to backing a draw given the way England are playing. As a trade when the wicket is playing well it still offers a nice trade, but as an outright bet I’m happy to skip it at 4.0. Unlike the 1st Test when I wanted to keep the draw on our side, I don’t feel the need to do that here – I expect a more challenging wicket for the batters after the Pakistan criticism of the wicket in the 1st Test, and I’m happy to back England at 2.82. They couldn’t be in a better place at the moment, and although their bowlers face a challenge to get their body ready to go again, the 2.82 is big enough to get involved. I’m going to keep stakes reasonably small however, because I’m not fully sure on conditions given the huge gap in the International schedule here.
The Edge Says:
Two points win England to beat Pakistan at 2.82 with Betdaq Exchange.
View the market here -> https://betdaq.biz/EngPak2
IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:
As I said above, you have to go back to 2006 to see the last Test match here. The way cricket, and even Test cricket itself, has changed since then I don’t think the records are worth much. Without being confident on conditions, there isn’t a set in-running trading plan here to create before the off. If the wicket looks to be playing well and similar to the 1st Test, then obviously the draw is going to be a good trade at around 4.0 but I’d be surprised if the ground staff didn’t reaction to the Pakistan comments, especially now they are behind in the series. There aren’t any players I wanted to take on either – the batters and bowlers all did a pretty good job in the opening Test, so we’ll just have to lay this one as we see it day-to-day.
