England v Pakistan Preview
England's four-match Test series against Pakistan gets underway at Trent Bridge next week and buyers of their series win index spread (25 points per test win, 10 points per draw) will have taken note of Pakistan's opening warm-up defeat against Australia. Buyers of the spread will have also heard Shahid Afridi announce his retirement from Test cricket after the final Test against Australia at Leeds. England's four matches will be held at Trent Bridge, Edgbaston, the Oval and Lord's.
In contrast to Pakistan's preparations, spread buyers of England's series win index will be pleased with the squad's progresson. The only blemish on Andy Flower's plan was the unfortunate injury to Ian Bell. England's spread followers need not worry as Flower can call upon Eoin Morgan and Paul Collingwood can also return to his middle order position.
Spread punters should note that these sides have met 43 times in England since 1954, with England winning 17 and losing 8, with 18 Tests being drawn. England's win/loss ratio on home turf against Pakistan is a healthy 2.12 and punters following England on the spreads can also take heart from the side winning their recent Test series against Bangladesh.
Those spread bettors looking to buy England's series win index will have been pleased with their performances in the Test and ODI series against Bangladesh - although Pakistan will represent tougher opposition. Spread buyers know that getting off to a fast start will be important and England's unbeaten record against Pakistan at Trent Bridge will offer plenty of encouragement. Spread buyers of England's win index will be interested to know these sides have met three times at the Nottinghamshire ground and they have won twice and drawn the other.
Buyers of the Pakistani's series win index spread will argue that these sides last played at Trent Bridge in 1967. The last completed match was in 2006 at Headingley which England won by 167 runs. Spread bettors might remember the more recent time these Test sides clashed on English soil for the wrong reasons - the game was awarded to England after Pakistan refused to play. Buyers of England's first innings supremacy for this match will want a similar performance to the opening Test of the 2006 series at Old Trafford where they bowled out their opponents for 119 runs before scoring 461.
Punters looking for a spread bet on total series runs will be interested to learn that England made 2145 runs in their 2006 Test series against Pakistan. Buyers of England's first innings spread might like to know that the team averaged an impressive 419 runs in their opening efforts. In comparison, Pakistan averaged 401 and spread sellers will be interested to know that the side only made 119 in their first innings of the second Test.
Sporting Index's player spread markets often spark debate, especially with Alistair Cook and Paul Collingwood having both scored well against Pakistan. Buyers of either of their series run spreads will look for a repeat performance of the opener in 2006 - Collingwood and Cook scored 186 and 105 respectively.
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