Sports Blog 06/09/2017: Cricket Preview – England vs West Indies 3rd Test, Thursday 7th September 2017

Can England rescue their Test series against the West Indies with a win at Lord’s this week?

The visitors got absolutely battered in the 1st Test at Edgbaston, the first day-night Test on English soil. Like properly hammered. Everything was wrapped up on day 3, with England taking 19 West Indian wickets to romp to an innings and 209 runs-shaped victory. In the process Stuart Broad – who sits at a Bowler Performance spread of 52-57 – overtook Ian Botham to become England’s 2nd leading Test wicket-taker.



It was the overwhelming nature of the host’s win made that made what came next all the more shocking.

The 2nd Test at Headingley was full of drama. After a tight opening 3 days England seemed to have it all sewn up on day 4, with captain Joe Root declaring on 490-8 late into the second innings. A sluggish 6 overs, and a paltry 5 runs, for the West Indies followed, leaving them to chase an intimidating – and many believed unsurmountable – 317 on the final day.

Yet led by Shai Hope – who became the first man to score a century in both innings of a first-class match at Headingley, and has a Batsmen Runs spread of 60-67 – the visitors roared to a 5 wicket victory, completing both their first win in England for 17 years AND the 20th highest successful fourth-innings chase in Test history.

That’s the second major embarrassment of Root’s two series tenure as captain, the other being England’s massive 340 run lost to South Africa back in July. Still, it wasn’t all bad news for the Yorkshire lad. On the first day at Headingley Root matched AB de Villiers’ world record for 12 successive Test half-centuries. And at a Batsmen Runs spread of 95-102 heading into Thursday morning Root may well make that record his own this week.

While West Indies will no doubt be buzzing after their shock win last month, the hosts are still heavily fancied favourites to win the 3rd Test, at a fixed odds price of 3/10 and a binary spread of 69.2-77. Spreadex are also offering an England 25:10 spread of 19.6-21.1 to the West Indies’ 2.9-4.4, with a West Indies to win the match spread of 3.8-8.4 and a Draw spread of 18.1-23.1.