England vs West Indies Test Series Betting Tips

Andrew Strauss' England side are off to the West Indies shortly and bookmakers are favouring them to get the momentum back on track with a test series victory over Chris Gayle's men. Top players like Gayle, Strauss, Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Flintoff and Shivarine Chanderpaul will all be on display wielding the willow and jockeying for a dominant position as both sides look to get their test form back up to par. In terms of series betting, Paddy Power has listed England as the 8/13 favourite to pull off the win in the 3 tests. A draw is backed at 3/1 while Windies will pay out at 10/3 should they prevail over the bulk of the 5 day matches. For me, the real value here is in picking out top England series runscorer and wicket taker- this is the fun stuff. This is what I love about betting on test cricket. The most popular choice right now for leading runscorer is deposed England captain Kevin Pietersen. Personally though, I think we'll see a buoyant Andrew Strauss on display. I think if England are batting first in the first test, Strauss' performance could set the tone for the entire series- a series England desperately need to win in order to produce enough momentum to see off Windies at home when they tour in the following months. England must win these two series to go into the Ashes with the proper mind-set. I'm backing Strauss as leading runscorer in the whole series and he's backed at 7/2 compared to Pietersen's 2/1. Alistair Cook is listed at 4/1 while for some reason Owais Shah is backed at 5/1. Belly is at 6/1, Collingwood is listed at 8/1 and big Freddie Flintoff rounds out the likely suspects at 10/1. I'm backing Strauss all the way. A lot of value to be had on England's wicket taker wagering. Flintoff leads the field at 9/4 which is better than evens while Harmison is inexplicably listed at 5/2. James Anderson is listed at 5/1, but I'm turning my eye towards Stuart Broad and Ryan Sidebottom. Broad is in form right now and I think the overhead conditions will favor his style of bowling. I can see Broad taking a hat trick at one point in this series if he really starts to shape up heading into the later tests. Sidebottom has been out of action for a while and will be looking to stamp his name on the Ashes team sheets. I expect him to be working a little gingerly in the first test, but once he takes his first wicket (lbw guaranteed), he'll come out like a house on fire mark my words. Broad and Siders are both listed at 11/2.