England odds-on for West Indies win

After the drama of Kevin Pietersen's departure as captain, England are back on the cricket pitch and doubtless happier for it as they prepare for a four-Test series against West Indies in the Caribbean. And despite their off-the-field problems, the tourists are odds-on to come out on top, with the first Test beginning in Jamaica on Wednesday.

It was surely written in the script that Pietersen would immediately bounce back in the way he does best, by scoring a century in the opening warm-up game. He will be desperate to prove to everyone that he is focused and that's good news for England because he is their best batsman by a country mile.

With the well-liked Andy Flower taking command of this tour from a coaching point of view after the departure of Peter Moores, England, under the captaincy of Andrew Strauss, should be settled enough to give West Indies more than a run for their money, even if their form of late, especially on their travels has been pretty poor.

In fact, England have won just one Test match away from home in the past two years - a run of one win in 13 games in all - their only triumph coming in New Zealand last winter.

However, West Indies, despite some improvement in their performances in general of late, have won just one match at home in their past nine, spanning three years. In that time, they lost four Tests and though the two touring teams were India and Australia, they should have done better.

Go back a bit further and since they were hammered 3-0 by England at home in 2005, they have won just three of their 21 Tests at home, which is a sorry record by anyone's standards.

England may also be buoyed by a return to where it all began for them in 2005, when their 3-0 win set them up for their victorious Ashes series in the summer. The England camp will be hoping for something similar and on paper, they are definitely deserving of their tag as favourites.

Bet365 make them 8/13 to win the series while West Indies are 7/2 and a drawn series is 10/3.

While Chris Gayle is proving to be a decent captain and though they have classy batsmen in Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan and a fine all-round performer in Daren Powell, they are still a hotch-potch of a team with no consistency.

Home advantage is of course a help, but many of England's team were there four years ago when they crushed Brian Lara's side and they will be confident of winning once more, especially if a return to the scene of former glories can inspire Steve Harmison to find his best form once more.

With a fully-fit Flintoff, Stuart Broad and James Anderson, their seam attack looks strong once more and though Monty Panesar has been bowling poorly for a while now, West Indies could provide him (or Graeme Swann or Adil Rashid) with a good number of wickets.

Correct score
A 2-1 win for England is the favourite in the correct-score outcome at 5/1, while a 3-0 win is narrowly second-favourite at 11/2. A 2-0 win is 13/2, a 1-0 win is 16/1 and a 4-0 whitewash is just 9/1.

A 1-1 draw is 7/1, while a 2-2 draw is 11/1 and a 0-0 draw 66/1. If you think West Indies can win the series - and I wouldn't advise doing so - then a 2-1 win is 15/2. You can get 20/1 that they win it 2-0, 25/1 that it ends 3-0 and 28/1 that it is 1-0 to the home side. And if you have lost your marbles and think West Indies can sweep the series, then you can get 80/1 on it being 4-0.

All things being equal, England should be more than capable of winning this series. Providing the key players stay fit and that Andrew Strauss is allowed to lead the team in the manner he wants to, everything should be in their favour. If anything, 8/13 is a generous price.

And if I had to pick a correct score, then I would go for 2-0 to England at 13/2.