ENG vs WI Test Day match prediction 9 Jul 2020

England are hosting West Indies in the first Test of the three-match series at the Rose Bowl in Southampton, which started from July 9, Wednesday. Now we are awaiting the second day of the Test eagerly!

International cricket resumed after a hiatus of over four months as England went head on with West Indies in the first Test on Wednesday. But the English weather conditions had other plans as rain played spoilsport and kept the action at bay for almost the entire day, forcing the umpires to call off the day’s play with only 17.4 overs bowled. England’s skipper for the game, Ben Stokes, got the right call at the toss and opted to bat first at the toss despite the conditions being overcast and cloudy. The new Dukes ball had a lot to offer for the bowlers and Shanon Gabriel showed what he could do with it as he knocked over Dom Sibley’s off stump in just the second over of the match.

That moment of early brilliance might have given the visitors a lot of hope when it came to picking up more wickets in that session but Rory Burns and Joe Denly kept the West Indies pacers at bay by playing extremely well until the new ball did not have much to offer. The wicket was good to bat on despite being under cover for almost an entire day before the start of play, which too was delayed due to bad weather conditions. We had to wait for such a long time because of the pandemic caused by a deadly virus, COVID-19, and then we had to watch a game without crowd in the stands that too in a bio-bubble as per the guidelines of the ICC, but the weather just did not let it happen. We can only hope that we have a full day on Thursday and enjoy the game we love the most. Despite the dull day, we have come up with the three best bets that you can place on the second day’s action of the ongoing Test match.

It was a tough first one hour for the England batsman and then the ball just stopped doing much. However, there were instances where the ball did beat the outside edge but it was not enough to rattle the England batters. But there’s more to it as I firmly believe that Joe Denly, no matter how well he has played out those sessions on the first day, is going to get dismissed before Rory Burns and there is more than one reason for it. Joe Denly has touched the 50-run mark just once in his last seven Test innings and that is something that is going to work against the Englishman. His last four scores against West Indies are - 6, 17, 20 and 69; to be honest these are not the scores I would be looking forward to. He is unbeaten on 14 from 48 balls and Denly has not looked really great at the crease to be honest. Denly averages only 25.64 in the first team innings and you can understand the worry that I have here. Bet 365 is offering generous odds of 1.66 for Denly to be the first man to get out on Thursday and this is that chance you should not be missing.

To reiterate, Joe Denly has not been at the greatest of touch with his willow in the longest format of the bat. His overall Test career average is 30.53 and he has managed to score 794 runs in 15 matches including just six fifties. Denly averages 31.50 against the team from the Caribbean islands with only 126 runs including one half century to his name. When he is playing on English soil, Denly averages 29.91 having scored 359 runs including three half tons. Denly averages 30.11 in the first match innings having scored 271 runs with just one half century to his tally. The only aspect that one could have looked forward to was his first match of the series but there Denly fails to reach the mark approved by the bookmakers. The right-handed batsman averages 36.50 in the first match of the series with two half tons to his name. With the pitch being under cover for a while now, there is sure to be some movement in the first session tomorrow and Bet 365 is really generous to offer 1.90 for Denly to score under 40 runs. This is one offer that you have the opportunity to earn almost double your investment.

We have arrived at the third and final segment of the day’s play and I assure you that you are going to be happy sitting at home. Rory Burns has made a decent start to his innings on the first day of the Test match against West Indies but there’s more to it. Burns has featured in four matches against the Caribbeans and he has managed to score just 165 runs at an average of 27.50 with just one fifty to his tally. When Burns is playing in England, he maintains an average of 35.16 including one century and two half centuries to his name. In his last 13 Test innings, Burns has crossed the 59-run mark only three times and that more or less explains the success rate of the English batsman. In the first match innings, Rory Burns averages only 30.77 with 277 runs under his belt in 10 innings, which is definitely not working in his favour when it comes to this particular market. Again, he too will have to negotiate the early session and if the numbers above provide any proof, it is that Burns is in for a tough outing. Royal Panda has offered odds of 1.57 for Burns to score under 59.5 runs and going by the statistics I just mentioned, that is the likely case, so you should not be missing this opportunity of earning genuine cash.