England backed to level series

When betting on the third and final Test between England and India remember two things; firstly England are still the No. 2 side in the world and secondly they do not lose at The Oval very often. Only once in their last seven have they been defeated and although you could argue they would have lost against Pakistan last summer when a ball-tampering row flattered them, the venue gives the home side a feelgood factor. Certainly they need it given a victory is necessary to prevent Michael Vaughan losing his first home series. At 13/8 with Coral they are the value to get it because the pitch, unsurprisingly, suits them more than the tourists. It's quick and bouncy nature plays perfectly into the hands of tall and rangy quick Chris Tremlett. The lift he got in the second innings at Trent Bridge was a taste of things to come for India's batsmen and they didn't fare too well. And if England wanted to make life really uncomfortable for Rahul Dravid's men they would be well-advised to replace James Anderson, who has gone back to his wayward worst, with Stuart Broad, another giant. By contrast, India have swing bowlers in Zaheer Khan, Sri Sreesanth and RP Singh. Basically, no one capable of really bending their back and making the batsmen hop around, a vital commodity on what is a good batting wicket. It makes them unbackable at 3/1 with Sportingodds. The draw will see plenty of support but really it is awful value at no better than 6/4.The weather forecast is set fair and although you could argue it will be tough for a side to take 20 wickets on a good surface, the flipside is that runs will be scored at a quicker rate than normal. VVS Laxman, a guy who likes to have everything in his favour to score runs, is a tempting top first innings runscorer bet for India. Verdict: 2pts England 13/8 (Coral)