Pietersen and Hoggard on course for top honours

England may not have won the opening Test but the efforts of Kevin Pietersen and Matthew Hoggard at Lord's mean they are now big favourites in the series player markets.

Pietersen once again showed his ability to destroy an attack with a brilliant 158 and the Hampshire man, who was 5/2 (3.50) favourite before Lord's, is now just 11/8 (2.37) to come out on top at the end of the series.

Marcus Trescothick, who showed England what they had been missing, is 9/4 (3.25) from 100/30 (4.33) while Alastair Cook is 6/1 (7.00), from 5/1 and Andrew Strauss is 13/2 (7.50) from 4/1 (5.00).

For Sri Lanka, Mahela Jayawardene, who more than anyone helped his side to the draw at Lord's is the 2/1 (3.00) favourite, from 11/4 (3.75).

As discussed before the first Test, with Steve Harmison, Simon Jones and James Anderson all out - the latter pair out for the whole series - the market for top England series bowler always looked like being a straight race between Matthew Hoggard and Andrew Flintoff.

Flintoff, for my money, is the best bowler in the England team, as well as being a destructable batsman, but in early summer conditions where swing is more prominent than seam, Hoggard looks to have the edge.

Hoggard performed superbly in India and continues to improve with every series, and having originally looked the bet at 11/8 (2.37), he is likely to be cut again by bet365.