ODI preview / Ed Hawkins / 19 March 2009 / Leave a comment

Ed Hawkins scratches his head trying to work out just why the West Indies are as big as a shade under evens to win the Series. As regards the 1st ODI, it will be a slow, sticky wicket at Providence which should perfectly suit a certain Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

After their 13th failed attempt to win a match this winter, England's cricketers sat down and told one another what they thought of each other. What kept you? There have been plenty of opportunities other than the Twenty20 humbling to West Indies on Friday to deliver "harsh words".

The fifth successive 50-over loss to India in November, a witless display in Mohali and the 51 all-out in Jamaica spring to mind. However, in all likelihood such a meeting is nothing out of the ordinary, which is why we should put our fingers in our ears when perusing the prices for the first one-day international between England and West Indies in Guyana on Friday.
England, who are [2.04] with the hosts [1.90], will not suddenly shorten because Amjad Khan has been called a so and so for dropping a dolly or Paul Collingwood chastened for shoddy shot selection.

They won't budge on the outright for the five-game series, either. There they are, stubbornly refusing to move from the [2.05] mark with West Indies' odds heading south at [1.95].

The latter could well be one of the wagers of the winter given England's horrendous record in the Caribbean in the 50-over format. In six efforts they have never won a series while they have regularly produced performances abroad to turn the air blue in one-day series which follow Tests.

For game one at Providence in Guyana England will want to put past troubles behind them. We, on the other hand, would do well to concentrate on them. If you are some sort of masochist and have last week's six-wicket thrashing in Trinidad on tape, watch it again.

Make a note of the way that England's batsmen battled in vain to keep the scoreboard ticking on a slow surface and then panicked when the West Indies bowlers cannily took the pace off the ball. If you don't have it on tape, don't worry. Just cast your mind back to any England batting effort on a tacky wicket in limited-overs games and you'll be right up to speed.

For example, in April 2007 in the World Cup on this very ground, England were 27 for two and struggling to work out the surface against the might of Ireland. That was one of only six limited-overs matches to have been played at the venue and every single one of them has been played to a slow pace.

The average first-innings total is just 240 and there is a bias in favour of the team batting first, the tell-tale sign of a sluggish wicket, is in evidence with four matches won by the outfit getting first use. A lay of England runs at 250 or more could be as solid a wager as opposing Andrew Strauss' side.

There is further evidence of the slow track when one looks at where the runs have come from. Opening batsmen are charged with making use of the fielding restrictions at the beginning of an innings and they love the ball to come onto the bat to help. That doesn't happen at Providence. In 12 innings only two openers have top scored.

The runs have come in the middle order from the nudges and nurdlers. Players like Paul Collingwood, who top scored in that game against Ireland, and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who did likewise in his side's only match there against Sri Lanka.

Collingwood is priced at a tempting [7.40] while Chanderpaul, on his home island, must surely rate a better chance than the [5.00] on offer about jolly Chris Gayle - remember how Nos 1 and 2 fare.

Chanderpaul comfortably saves his best for friends and family and in all matches on home turf - West Indies previously played at Bourda - he averages 58. By contrast, Ramnaresh Sarwan, who is also Guyanese, is yet to pass 50 on the island in one-dayers.