The frailties of opening Partnerships have been discussed widely in this series and it’s notable that Alistair Cook, who averages only 27 here in 4 tests and has been outscored readily but Andrew Strauss in this series. The same can happen again in the first innings at 10/11 with Blue Square England’s captain having shown signs of his best in the second innings at Trent Bridge.
And last but not least, back-to-back defeats in the T20Is have hardly given this new-look Aussie unit a sound start. They were thoroughly outplayed in Pallekele - the same venue for Wednesday's first ODI – and Sri Lanka can once again get the best of them over 50 overs. The home side made the World Cup final while the visitors have looked vulnerable in all aspects with just a couple of wins over Canada and Kenya at the World Cup and a token series victory over Bangladesh to show for their past six months, have to serve up a dominant showing to justify their number-one ODI ranking.
That still doesn’t make anywhere near the appeal that the next bet does, which has a margin of 63 runs based on the stats this series. The closest India have gotten to 300 is 288 in this whole series which is mainly due to a lack of a lower order (also with their only batsmen amongst bowlers, Singh now out for the test) and with a vulnerable opening pair and misfiring middle order that shouldn’t be changing anytime soon so the fact that Ladbrokes set their runs line of India first innings runs at 350 is incredible, and the 5/6 on unders is a gift.
Praveen Kumar (below) is nowhere near as confident a selection but he has been of a saving grace for the outrights preview with 12 wickets and he may be well worth backing for the top Indian wicket taker in the first innings. Ishant Shama and Shreesanth have looked very wayward and the control, albeit slow, of Kumar could prove enough.
And last but not least, back-to-back defeats in the T20Is have hardly given this new-look Aussie unit a sound start. They were thoroughly outplayed in Pallekele - the same venue for Wednesday's first ODI – and Sri Lanka can once again get the best of them over 50 overs. The home side made the World Cup final while the visitors have looked vulnerable in all aspects with just a couple of wins over Canada and Kenya at the World Cup and a token series victory over Bangladesh to show for their past six months, have to serve up a dominant showing to justify their number-one ODI ranking.
Advice – Day 1 of 3rd Test in England v India
5 pts India first innings score of under 350 runs (5/6 Ladbrokes)
2 pts Andrew Strauss to outscore Alistair Cook (10/11 Blue Sq)
1 pt Praveen Kumar to be top Indian wicket tacker (11/4 William Hill)
Advice – Sri Lanka v Australia 1st ODI
1 pt Sri Lanka (10/11 Bet365)
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