England and Ambrose could attract spread interest

Should Andrew Strauss have forced the follow-on? It's been a matter of contention among cricket fans since, but buyers of England's win index spread for the third Test in Antigua against the West Indies will certainly think so. Either way, the tense final day of that match contributed to an extraordinary series so far, and bodes well for cricket spread bettors hoping for an exciting fourth Test.

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England are again favourites for the Barbados match at 12-13.5 on their win index spread compared with the West Indies' at 9.5-11. New dad Matt Prior's late exclusion from the England side may have initially spurred a few more bettors to buy the Windies' index, but a confident display by stand-in Tim Ambrose, making two catches and scoring 74 runs against the BCA President's XI, will have allayed any fears for his form among England spread buyers.

It may well make him a popular target for buyers in the player runs spread at 42-48, and even more so in the England wicket-keeper market, at 72-80 points (1pt for a run, 10pts for a catch, 25 for a stumping) - Ambrose also picked up a stumping in the warm-up match.

The venue, Bridgetown's Kensington Oval, is steeped in history and is undoubtedly one of the most impressive grounds in the Caribbean. Buyers and sellers of Sporting Index's bowling and batting performance spreads should note that the pitch has traditionally been fast but seems to favour batsmen, good news for buyers of any of the key batsmen's ton-up scores.

The last time England played a test here was in April 2004, a convincing win by eight wickets but buyers of the West Indies win index spread will point out that the Caribbean side has won four of the thirteen test matches between the sides here, to England's three.

Six tests have been drawn, but spread bettors might choose to dismiss the head-to-head form at the Kensington Oval altogether - the ground was completely rebuilt for the 2007 World Cup and as such, may feel like a different venue entirely for those England players present five years ago.

In the first innings supremacy spread, England are 30-50 run favourites with the Sporting Index traders. It may be of benefit to both buyers and sellers to look at previous first innings outcomes and by analysing the last five Tests (excluding the abandoned second test at North Sound), we can see that England hold the advantage in recent times, maybe convincing buyers of the supremacy spread of little downside to their wager.

England have only once recorded less than the West Indies' first innings total in the last five matches, in the opening Test of the series at the beginning of February. The biggest supremacy for England was a huge 424 runs at Headingley in 2007 and in the five matches the total first innings England supremacy is 885 - an average of 177 across the five Tests.

Please note that odds are correct at time of publication and are subject to change.