West Indies v England 1st ODI Cricket
Fri 3rd 1.30pm
The West Indies have lost 13 of their last 18 ODI's and take on England in the first ODI of a three match series on Friday afternoon in Antigua. England have won 9 of their past 10 ODI's against the West Indies
England beat the West Indies 2-1 in an ODI series here in 2014 and they are 4/11 for victory this Friday (WI 9/4). The tour is a warm up for this summer's ICC Champions Trophy on home soil. England are amongst the favourites for the competition after winning ten of their last fourteen ODI's worldwide.
This West Indies side, who failed to qualify for the ICC tournament, are shorn of the experience/talent of Chris Gayle, Darren and Dwayne Bravo, Lendl Simmons and Marlon Samuels for various reasons and it is difficult to see them enhancing their recent poor record in this format. They do have some matchwinners, Carlos Braithwaite for example and in any one off game one of those players can come off but over a three match series England should win
Batting conditions should be good and the WI bowling not too taxing. So looking for an angle
Joe Root has been the mainstay of this England batting order for several years and he flourished during the ODI series win in the Caribbean in 2014, scoring 167 runs at an average of 55.66 and was named man of the series
Root averages 69.66 in all formats against the WI and he has looked in good touch during the warm-ups for this series, weighing in with scores of 71 and 46.
He is 3/1 to be top England batsman in the First ODI but that comes with a slight caveat as he has struggled to convert good starts into hundreds, scoring a slightly disappointing eight centuries in 80 ODI appearances.
the england batting line up is so deep, and 50 overs such a long time to bat in modern ODIs, that there are conceivably 7 or 8 winners in that market
He has though scored 50+ in 7 of his last 9 ODI appearances and can be backed to score 50 or more at 5/4 with Hills on Friday
Rec: £40 5/4 Root 50+ WH
http://www.oddschecker.com/cricket/west-indies-v-england/1st-odi/to-score-50