England v West Indies Third Test Tips: Edgbaston brings out best in Bazball

• Edgbaston could be flat wicket

• England to be aggressive with the bat

• Player bets at 5/6, 11/8, 13/5 and 9/2

• Don't miss the Exchange strategy

England v West Indies
Friday 26 July, 11:00
TV: live on Sky Sports

England v West Indies third Test team news

England have, as usual, named their XI the day before. With a 2-0 lead and the series safely pouched they are well within their rights to remain unchanged. But in the spirit of discovery, they could have made one change.

They have resisted the opportunity to give Dillon Pennington, the rangy fast bowler, a debut. On a potentially helpful surface in front of a supportive crowd and a dead rubber to boot, there were worse environments to make your bow. Pennington took 3 for 74 in the Championship at Edgbaston earlier this season

Pennignton and Matthew Potts may now be released to play in The Hundred for Northern Superchargers.

Names XI: Crawley, Duckett, Pope, Root, Brook, Stokes, Smith, Woakes, Wood, Atkinson, Bashir

Jeremiah Louis, pacer and brother of Mikyle, has been ruled out of game three due to a hamstring injury. Jeremiah was putting Shamar Joseph under pressure for his place.

A lack of control with the ball has been an issue for the Windies and Shamar looked vulnerable, despite his batting ability, with only two wickets in the series and an economy of more than four.

Akeem Jordan has been called up as a replacement but with no warm-up and only two ODI to his name it would be a surprise if he played.

Where West indies could switch things up is in the spin department. Do they need Shamar when Gudakesh Motie and Kevin Sinclair could work in tandem? Having a point of difference isn't a bad idea when 2-0 adrift.

Possible XI: Brathwaite, M Louis, McKenzie, Athanaze, Hodge, Holder, Da Silva, Sinclair, Alzarri, Motie, Seales

England v West Indies third Test pitch report

The first Ashes Test last summer bucked the Edgbaston ground trends. It had been one for the bowlers in the previous five years -with only three all-out scores of more than 303. Well, England managed 393 in the first dig and declared with the Aussies replying with 386. It was a good enough wicket to ensure a thrilling chase of 281 in the fourth by Australia.

The runs have flowed in the championship this term. The lowest first-innings score in four was 298. In all innings there have been a 698, 517 and 400.

With West Indies struggling with the ball, a wager on England for 400 or more looks to be a sensible first port of call. There could even be a bit of value for West indies to knuckle down. At Trent Bridge they took a first-innings lead and on a flat surface their first-innings par line could look a cheap overs play at late 290s or early 300s.

England v West Indies third Test match prediction

England are 1.162/13 with West Indies 12.50 and the draw 16.50. Some respect has been put on that Windies price after they managed a first-innings lead before being blown away in the second innings.

Their efforts at Trent Bridge were certainly encouraging. But the collapse when bang in the game makes it hard to take shorter odds, even though a zero on their name in this series is unusual. Not for five contests have they failed to win a game against England.

One suspects the hosts will again come hard, led by the excellent Ben Duckett. On a flat surface and with the weather forecast good, suggestions of a more restrained Bazball may be premature. No doiubt skip ben Stokes would have comminicated such theories to his charges. Sportsbook offer England's first ten-over runs at over 55.5 at 10/111.91. At Trent Bridge they recorded 76.

England v West Indies third Test Exchange strategy

The caveat is the same as it was for the advice for game two. Any trade on West Indies at big numbers comes with a health warning. We saw at Lord's that they offered no chance to even get back a stake.

In Nottingham, though, they fought hard as their price collapsed to around the 2/13.00 mark with a first-innings lead and the quick run out of Zak Crawley.

Bowling first remains a blueprint because any sort of parity ahead of a third innings cranks up the pressure on the batting side. We would be looking for a lay at 4.003/1 with a double of the original stake on the lay button.

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