England Cricket / Frank Gregan / 11 May 2009 /

After Onions made him weep, Frank Gregan is hoping that Andrew Strauss and co. can save him from the poorhouse... He also has some novel ideas for scheduling future Ashes tours...

It's time to eat a large portion of humble pie. For the last three months on a fairly regular basis I have used this column to poke fun at the beleaguered England team. Even when they created history and won the one day series in the Caribbean no credit was given to Andrew Strauss and his men here - luck was the main component that led to their victory and I was quick to point that out.

I've been having a bit of a Harry Potter streak with my cricket recommendations of late with a very profitable record since the start of the Caribbean tour. I get the feeling that I am about to discover that tipping is a circular thing and that what goes around comes around. There is every chance that if I follow my own recommendations (which I usually do) then I may well find myself standing on a street corner calling out - "Big Issue!"

Indeed, my recommendation last week was to lay England in the two test series against the West Indies at [1.74]. That recommendation was in good faith, I expected the West Indies to field a team that would concentrate on playing the moving ball rather than keeping their hands warm. For the short duration of the test the West Indies team showed as much enthusiasm for the contest as the Christians in the Coliseum! Their batsmen entered the fray with a white flag attached to the end of their bats and if it wasn't for the efforts of Messrs Nash and Ramdin in the second innings it would have been an even heavier defeat.

The West Indies are not renowned for their grit and determination and with the conditions set to be even more to their distaste in Durham this week it is time to jump ship and recoup the losses that are invariably going to be incurred on last week's recommendation. It's time to back England with whatever stake it takes to turn them green at odds of [1.18] to win the series. If the liability is too great, try backing England to win the second test at [1.95] which should recoup the losses if the weather doesn't intervene.

It's a bitter pill to swallow and it tastes pretty much the same as the large portion of humble pie that I'm currently chewing on. However, the alternative is to place one's faith in the West Indies making a fight of it and that will lead to a really bad taste, dinner in a soup kitchen!

But credit where credit is due - the England team took full advantage of the West Indian apathy and gave them a right hiding. Ian Bell and Ryan Sidebottom have been recalled for the second test - they have done what has been asked of them when they have been out of the squad but as Bopara and Onions are proving there are alternatives to the tried and tested out there. It would have been good to see another youngster given his chance.

There is a lesson to be learnt from this series and that is that touring sides do not like playing in England during early season. That lesson should be applied to the Ashes and the Aussies should be made to tour at a time that would favour England, late January and throughout February should do the trick!

Seriously though, even though England are performing well against the West Indies my bet of the year remains Australia to win the Ashes and they are still available to back at odds of [1.72]. Forget soup kitchens and the Big Issue, should the unthinkable come to fruition and England get something out of the series against Ponting and his men, Bob Geldof will have to organise an event in order to get me back on my feet!

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