Sports Blog 14/07/2016: 1st Test Preview – England v Pakistan, Thursday 14th to Monday 18th July 2016

After the lukewarm series with Sri Lanka, England welcome their second visiting side of the summer.

The visit of the Pakistanis certainly feels like the main event, and after the fairly dismal effort of the Sri Lankans one would hope that Azhar Ali’s side put up a better fight. Nevertheless England go into the first test as firm favourites, pitched at 47.6-54.6 on the binary, and a 25:10 index quote of 14.6-16.1. Pakistan are available at 19-25 on the binary, and their 25:10 quote is 7.5-9. With all the recent bad weather the draw is on offer at a fixed odds price of 9/4.



All the attention ahead of this match has been on the return to Lord’s of Pakistani bowler Mohammad Amir. The left-armer has returned from his spot-fixing ban, and as luck would have it his first test back is at the home of cricket. Amir is expected to lead the pace attack, and his bowler index is pitched at 44-49 (10 pts per wicket, 25pt bonus for a 5-wicket haul). Our traders have come up with several other specials concerning Amir for this test match: Amir Hero or Villain is pitched at -10-10, with 1pt awarded per run Amir scores, 30pts per wicket he takes but -1pt per run conceded off his bowling. We have a Mohammad Amir multi-perf market, which is the make-up of the number of runs he scores x the number of wickets he takes x the number of catches he takes – this volatile market is pitched at 24-30. Last but not least is the Mohammad Amir Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious market – 10 pts for Amir’s first wicket, 20 pts for his second wicket all the way through to 200pts for his 20th wicket (max make-up 2100). With the focus on Amir’s every move these markets give you a great way of getting in on the action.

Yasir Shah is expected to be Pakistan’s other main threat with ball in hand. The best leg-spinner in the world, Shah has excelled in Pakistan’s ‘home’ tests in the UAE; can he deliver in less favourable English conditions. Our traders quote his bowler performance exactly the same as Amir’s at 44-49, so clearly they expect him to remain a big danger to the English batsmen. The support acts of the Pakistan attack are expected to be Sohail Khan (bowler performance quote 31-36) and Wahab Riaz (34-39).



It will no doubt be a stiffer test than the Sri Lankans posed that the English batsmen will face in this series. It will be imperative that Captain Alastair Cook leads from the front and asserts himself over the Pakistani bowling attack. Cook will never be the most free-flowing of batsmen, but he has started to look a bit more like the run machine of a few years ago in recent tests. Our traders quote his match runs at 86-93, with his ton ups on offer at 13-16. For those who fancy Cook to go big we have his Super Mega Runs quoted at 138-148 (1pt per runs 1-50, 2pts per runs 51-100, 3pts per run scored over 100 PER INNINGS). Cook is the 7/2 second favourite to top score for the hosts in their first innings.

Joe Root endured a surprisingly barren series against the hapless Sri Lankans, and he will be keen to return to the form that led him to the upper echelons of the world rankings. England were able to outclass the Sri Lankans without much of a contribution from Root, but you fell he must return to form against this much more potent touring attack. Root is the 11/4 favourite to top score for England in their first innings; and innings he will bat at number 3 in following his shuffle up the order. Root runs are quoted at 93-100, the highest of any player playing in the match, and his Super Mega Runs are quoted at a daunting 158-168.

The two men expected to do the bulk of the run scoring for Pakistan are captain Azhar Ali and veteran Younis Khan. Both these fine players’ runs are pitched at 79-86, with both mens’ ton ups on offer at 8-11. Perhaps unsurprisingly our traders can’t split them when it comes to the top Pakistan batsman market, installing them both as the 15/4 joint favourites. Former captain Misbah ul-Haq is still performing fantastically into his Forties, and his match runs make some appeal at 72-79. The veteran is a 9/2 shot to top score for the visitors in their first innings, whilst his Super Mega Runs are pitched at 102-112.



Those batsmen will be delighted that Jimmy Anderson is missing this test match through injury. England’s all-time leading test wicket taker will almost certainly return for the rest of the series, but in his absence it will be up to his understudies to step up. Stuart Broad will lead the attack, and is expected to pose the greatest threat to the Pakistanis with his bowling performance quoted at 44-49. Broad’s highest test score as a batsman came during Pakistan’s last tour of England, and for those who fancy a repeat performance his match player performance quote of 108-116 may be of some interest (1pt per run, 10 pts per catch, 20 pt per wicket, 25 pts per stumping).

It is expected that England will hand a debut to Nottinghamshire seamer Jake Ball. Ball has impressed in the domestic 4 day competition, and provides England with a new weapon in their armoury. Our traders quote Ball bowler performance at 30-35, indicating they expect him to have some success on debut. Many touring sides struggle in the first test of an away series, so this could be Ball’s chance to establish himself in the side.

As ever we have a wide range of specials for this Test match. England’s first innings supremacy over Pakistan is quoted at 38-58, whilst we are also offering a binary price on England leading after each side has had their first dig. 61-67 is the price, with the market making up 0 if Pakistan record the highest first innings, 100 if England do so, and 50 in the unlikely event of a tie. With plenty of big-hitters on display we quote match 6s at 6-6.5, with multi-sixes on offer at 10-13. We also quote match wides (6.4-6.9) and Multi-Wides (10-13).

With the widest range of spread and fixed odds markets available throughout the test and indeed the series stick with Spreadex for all the action.

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