Windies look for fast start

The first one-day international between West Indies and England takes place in Guyana on Friday and though the bookies can't split the two sides, the home side should have the edge and can make a winning start to the five-match series.

It doesn't take a genius to see that England are still a terrible one-day side. Their opening partnership - so, so crucial to one-day success - is not established and is liable to change at any minute. Their understanding of how to build a score is 25 years behind the rest of the world and their bit-part players are not good enough.

That said, they have some players who can perform. Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff are destructive batsmen, while Ravi Bopara is excellent and Matt Prior can score quickly. James Anderson does well in one-day cricket and Stuart Broad is hugely reliable.

However, they just don't have the match-winners that West Indies have. Captain Chris Gayle, back after injury, can destroy any attack, while Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul adapt themselves well to the one-day game. And Dwayne Bravo is a real one-day performer.

Rain makes a result always problematic here, but bet365 make both teams 5/6 to win it.

Sarwan is the favourite to top-score for West Indies, at 7/2, while Gayle is 3/1 and Chandperaul 7/2. As usual, there's a big gap to the next man, Devon Smith, who can be backed at 13/2, while Lendl Simmons is 7/1 and Bravo an 8/1 chance.

For England, Pietersen is the obvious favourite at 3/1, ahead of captain Andrew Strauss, who while not a one-day batsmen, is in excellent form. He is 4/1, Prior is 9/2, Owais Shah 5/1, Bopara the same price and Steven Davies 11/2. Ian Bell and Paul Collingwood are 6/1 and Flintoff is 8/1.

There is little to choose between the two sides, but home advantage helps and West Indies, for my money, have the edge anyway. Back them at 5/6.