Twenty20 / Editor / 27 June 2007 /

England and the West Indies enter into uncharted territory on Thursday when they play their first ever international Twenty20 match against each other, the first of two games in two days at the Brit Oval in south London.

Both of the sides are in serious rebuilding phases after failures at the World Cup, with both boasting a new captain and a number of players who are pushing to claim a regular place in the side ahead of the Twenty20 World Cup, coming up in South Africa in September.

But Betfair punters have pinned their hopes on England since the market on the two-game series opened, with Paul Collingwood's side rated 2.06 favourites. The West Indies are 6.6 outsiders in a still developing market and the drawn series is 2.6.

England turned to Collingwood as captain after Michael Vaughan decided to stand down, although the Yorkshireman had hoped, in vain, to at least keep his place in the side. Vaughan was dropped from the squad, along with Andrew Strauss, who skippered the one-day side last summer against Sri Lanka and Pakistan, with little success.

But the market for the first game is a little more indicative of England's position as favourite, as they are priced up at 1.54 to the West Indies at 2.8, although there are plenty of punters keen to back England at marginally bigger prices.

And it is no real surprise that the Windies are not strongly fancied as the end of their tour is threatening to fall apart with internal wrangling, and they have a distinct lack of experience in this form of the game, limited mainly to the Stanford 20/20 competition in the Caribbean last year.

The decision to give exciting opener Chris Gayle the captaincy has apparently not gone down well, even with the player who has been openly critical of the team's selectors, who preferred to stick with Test captain Daren Ganga, before leaving him out of the ODI squad.

Gayle now captains a side with mainly bad experiences of the shorter form of the game, with the rest lacking any experience. He will need to rally his troops after a 3-0 Test series defeat and a humbling at the hands of Derbyshire in a Twenty20 warm-up, a game in which they were bowled out for an embarrassing 85.

They were destroyed by journeymen county bowlers Tim Lungley and Ant Botha, with only youngster Austin Richards Jnr scoring more than 20, but he will most likely need to play second fiddle to the likes of Gayle and Marvin Samuels if the tourists are to have any success.

A win over the PCA's Cricket Masters XI did at least put them in winning form ahead of Thursday's game, but when you realise the likes of Robin Smith, Chris Lewis and Dean Headley were all in that line-up, it is not really form that can be trusted 100%.

Gayle has played only seven Twenty20 games of any kind, with a high score of only 40, but he will be a threat in the top batsman market and he could be just as intriguing as a top bowler option, as he has taken 11 wickets at a cost of only 11 runs each in those games.

The West Indies have only ever played in one Twenty20 international, a game with New Zealand that ended in a tie, with Ganga and Shivnarine Chanderpaul join top-scorers with 26 on that occasion, although it is hard to imagine the latter really being at his best in this form of the game.

England's Test players have been in decent form coming into this two-game series, but their recent one-day form is less than inspiring (albeit better than their visitors) after an early exit from the World Cup and some dreadful performances in Australia before a rally from nowhere saw them lift the CB Series.

Their selectors have opted for a mix of experience and youth in their one-day squad, but sadly for Warwickshire's Jonathan Trott his call-up looks set to end in disappointment after he was injured in the nets in preparation for Thursday's match.

Injuries to Trott and his county team-mate Ian Bell mean there could well be two additions to the squad before the Oval game starts, so be careful when having a bet in the top batsman and bowler markets, especially if someone like Darren Maddy is added to the party - he should be among the favourites in both markets if he is added and as a Twenty20 specialist has more experience at this style of play than any other member of the squad.

Dimitri Mascarenhas is another exciting addition to the party and has to be considered by punters with the rest of the batting line-up, Kevin Pietersen and at times Matt Prior apart, lacking in quick scorers.

The bowling is also a question mark, with most of the squad having played in few Twenty20 county games mainly because of their previous involvement with England - none of them has passed the 20-game mark, although that compares well with the West Indies at least.

Ryan Sidebottom, previously not considered for a regular one-day place even by his counties Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire, has the most success of the capped players with 17 wickets, but it could be the uncapped Mascarenhas who is relied on - he has taken 28 wickets at an average of only 17.10 in his 22 outings for Hampshire.

Spin bowling may be more of a question if Monty Panesar is not handed the No 11 role, but he did take 2-40 in his one Twenty20 international and his fielding has improved to the point where he could just have reached un-droppable status in any form of the game.

Michael Yardy is the only other option, but he has missed most of the season through injury and his spin bowling has not been highly successful in Twenty20 games so far.

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