THE EDGE: The Edge previews the 2nd Test between ENGLAND v SRI LANKA with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
England v Sri Lanka 2nd Test
MATCH OVERVIEW:
We’re onto the 2nd Test between England and Sri Lanka on Betdaq Betting Exchange, and cricket fans will be hoping for an improved display from Sri Lanka to make this competitive. While England won comfortably in the end, Sri Lanka did put in a decent performance – I feared the worst on the opening day when Sri Lanka were 6/3; then again at 92/6! It looked like it would get a little embarrassing to be honest but they battled very hard from there. The Test was probably gone at that stage, but the 326 in the second innings should give them a little bit of confidence heading into this Test.
England are still heavy favourites; no surprises there. And let’s be honest – anything bar an England win would be a big shock. England had bad news this week with Mark Wood ruled out of the rest of the series with a thigh strain. They’ve called in Josh Hull which has definitely raised some eyebrows – there’s no doubt he is a young talent with his height at 6ft 7in, but his record in the County Championship isn’t great. It will be fascinating to see how he bowls, if he actually gets a start. Maybe in the 3rd Test when the series is won (if England win here). In fairness, he has played some nice cricket in the white ball format – to be honest it’s another example that England tend to pick who they want/fancy regard than who’s playing the best cricket domestically.
Sri Lanka need a better start; they have the talent if they put it all together but they simply need to bat better in English conditions. They should get good batting conditions at Lord’s; the question is can their limited batting line-up keep the pace with Bazball?
WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:
We finish the English Test summer in London. The 2nd Test is at Lord’s and then we move up the road to the Oval for the 3rd Test. At Lord’s, you usually look up rather than down – generally you want to bat under sunny skies and bowl under cloudy skies. Lord’s has turned into a result venue lately – the last six Tests have had a result – there hasn’t been a draw here since 2021. From the last 18 Tests, only three have finished with a draw. The last time Sri Lanka played here they did get a draw, but cricket has changed a lot since 2016! The weather forecast looks excellent.
RECOMMENDED BET:
The market is writing off the draw here – it’s trading as high as 15.0 at the time of writing. With Sri Lanka’s unreliable batting and the way England play Test cricket under Brendon McCullum it’s hard to see a draw here given we’re not going to lose any time with the weather so good. Usually it’s good batting conditions under sunny skies at Lord’s, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see reasonably high scores. However, there’s a big gulf in class between the sides here. England are trading 1.27 and I’m happy to back them at those odds; we landed a nice bet on them at 1.3 in the 1st Test and we can do the same here.
The Edge Says:
Three points win England to beat Sri Lanka at 1.27 with Betdaq Exchange
View the market here -> https://betdaq.biz/EngSri2
IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:
Given what we saw in the 1st Test, I am surprised that England are going off only three ticks shorter. I just feel this series will be one sided, and I didn’t see anything in the 1st Test to change my mind – even without Ben Stokes leading England. Their batting should go very well at Lord’s and put Sri Lanka under immense pressure when they bat. Sri Lanka got themselves into all sorts of trouble in their first innings and once again we should see the most market movement when Sri Lanka bat. I’d happily support the England batting and bowling here to be honest – hopefully we might see 1.5 on England in-running but I do feel there’s more chance of a 1.01 train.
