Richard Mann has three selections for England's ODI finale with the West Indies which takes place at the Oval on Tuesday.
Cricket betting tips: England v West Indies
2pts Shimron Hetmyer under 21.5 match runs at 5/6 (General)
1pt Matthew Forde top West Indies batsman at 40/1 (General)
1pt Gudakesh Motie top West Indies batsman at 50/1 (General)
It’s a mark of just how big a gulf in class there is between England and the West Indies that the home team were still able to win in Cardiff on Sunday, sealing series victory in the process, despite turning in a largely sloppy display.
Bowling first, England’s fielding, and catching in particular, was desperately poor, and having slipped to 2-2 in reply to the West Indies’ 308, it needed quite the fightback to see them run out relatively comfortable winners in the end.
Much of that was down to the enduring brilliance of Joe Root whose sublime 166 not out was surely one of his best hundreds in an England shirt. Will Jacks and Harry Brook both played their part, but it was another illustration of just how dependent on Root this England team is.
For the tourists, highlights came from Keacy Carty and Shai Hope with the bat, the former maintaining the impressive start he has made to his international career with a century. Alzarri Jospeh then produced a wonderful spell with the ball to finish with 4-31.
Nevertheless, the West Indies still came up short, despite three fine individual performances and a big helping hand from their opponents. It’s hard to see how they are going to beat this England team over 100 overs of cricket.
The 50-over series concludes at the Oval on Tuesday, 1pm UK time, and while this ground has historically been one of the best in the country for batting, some of the early-season County Championship scores would suggest the pitch has had its challenges, without being a minefield.
It wasn’t always the easiest for batting in last year’s edition of The Hundred, either, so I’ll be keen to get a closer look at the surface, and the overheads, before the Toss. In challenging conditions, I still don’t trust this West Indies batting line-up.
I made the case for a couple of lower-order dashers in the top West Indies batsman market on Sunday, and I’m going to have another go with that same project here.
The two men in question are MATTHEW FORDE and GUDAKESH MOTIE, available at 40/1 and 50/1 respectively.
Forde struck a century in his most recent First Class appearance and continued that form with a 19-ball 58 in the recent ODI series in Ireland. He made a rapid 38 in the previous match there, too.
If England can create as many chances as they have done in the series thus far, but this time hold onto their catches, this market could quite easily open up for the lower order like it did in game one.
As for Motie, he is a very capable player who top-scored in a Test match against England last summer, producing the type of late cameo that suggests he is always a live danger.
His two efforts with the bat in this series have produced scores of 18 on both occasions, so he might not be the no-hoper odds of 50/1 would suggest – that's if the tourists revert to the type against the new ball.
Finally, I’m pretty down on SHIMRON HETMYER at this level, so playing UNDER 21.5 on his match runs makes obvious appeal.
Hetmyer could only manage 4 on his return to the West Indies starting XI on Sunday when bamboozled by Adil Rashid, another poor return in a dreadful run of form for the left-hander.
At the recent IPL, Hetmyer proved a big flop for Rajasthan Royals, only scoring 164 runs in 13 innings, at an average of 21.72. He finished that campaign with scores of 11, 0, 29, 11 and 12 not out.
Hetmyer looks a solid sell once again.
Preview published at 1450 BST on 02/06/25
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