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Tourists under the cosh

Author: Rose Young
Date: 03/05/2009

England will be hoping to exact revenge on the West Indies when the three-match Test series gets underway at Lord's on Wednesday.

Andrew Strauss' side somehow contrived to lose their recent five-match series in the Caribbean 1-0, despite playing a lot of positive cricket during the trip.

However, the tourists paid a heavy price for a dismal display in the first Test in Jamaica, where they were skittled out for just 51 in their second innings to lose by an innings and 23 runs.

England, though, will be confident of success on home soil and the poor start made by the touring West Indians in recent times will have only aided their mood further.

Cricket betting odds still make England strong favourites for the series.

The Windies were thrashed by ten wickets by an England Lions side in their final warm-up game at Derby, with their batting twice folding against an attack which comprised a back-up to the England senior side.

Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul both showed some sort of form in that game, but the preparations have been hampered by skipper Chris Gayle's absence.

Gayle has been too busy for duty with his country as he is playing in the Indian Premier League for the Kolkata Knight Riders and he will only arrive in England on Monday.

As one of his side's key batsmen and also their leader, Gayle's apparent lack of commitment does not bode well for the weeks ahead.

Another key man for the tourists will be paceman Jerome Taylor, who was the architect of England's demise in Jamaica, while left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn will also be expected to have a major impact.

While the tourists have their problems, England have gambled on the selection of two cap-less seamers, Graham Onions and Tim Bresnan.

Durham's Onions has yet to make his debut on the international stage, but his style of brisk seamers is likely to suit an early-season pitch at the home of cricket.

Bresnan is a taller, stronger figure, who will hope to extract bounce to unsettle the tourists, with he and Onions likely to form a four-pronged pace attack alongside Stuart Broad and James Anderson.

That leaves just one spot for a spinner, with Graeme Swann set to keep Monty Panesar out of the side after showing up the better of the two in the Caribbean.

However, England's batting line-up has a less than assured make-up, with wicketkeeper Matt Prior set to bat as high as six.

Of the top five, skipper Strauss has shown excellent form in the opening weeks of the new season, but Alastair Cook has only just returned from a finger injury.

Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood and Ravi Bopara - who has been entrusted with the number three spot - have all been away on IPL duty, meaning that the series gets going with both sides definitely undercooked.

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