Betting Blog

England in the pink ahead of day-night Test

The future's pink, the future's floodlit. The first day-night Test to have been staged in England gets underway at Edgbaston today

West Indies training under lights at Edgbaston  Getty Images

The future's pink, the future's floodlit. The first day-night Test to have been staged in England gets underway at Edgbaston today, with West Indies facing a daunting experiment at the start of what was alre ady promising to be a tough series.

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The odds-setters at Bet365 certainly don't hold out too many hopes of them coming to terms with the challenge - England are 1/6 to win the first Test, with West Indies a distant 14/1, behind the draw at 13/2.

The identity of the likely top-scorer is easy enough to guess. Joe Root, who has scored fifties in each of his last ten Tests, is strongly backed to make that 11 in a row, if his pre-match odds of 5/2 are anything to go by. Alastair Cook, whose Test-best 294 came on this ground in 2011, is 3/1, with Mark Stoneman, his debutant opening partner, next in line on 5/1. Further down the order, Moeen Ali, at 20/1, is intriguingly priced. England's Man of the Series against South Africa is in prime form, but maybe won't get much of a sniff coming in at No.8.

As for the bowling stakes, it's hard to look past James Anderson and Stuart Broad, England's senior pairing, who are priced at 11/4 each to be England's leading wicket-takers.

Kraigg Brathwaite and Roston Chase, at 4/1, are the favourites to be West Indies' top-scorers in this Test. Shannon Gabriel and Kemar Roach, at 10/3, are backed to be the leading wicket-takers.

West Indies tour of England