Cricket betting tips: England vs Pakistan T20I preview and best bets
England's cricketers return to international duty on Saturday afternoon when they host Pakistan in a T20I at Edgbaston – Richard Mann previews the action.
Cricket betting tips: England v Pakistan T20I
2pts Phil Salt top England batsman at 4/1 (Betfair Sportsbook, Paddy Power)
After rain ruined Wednesday’s scheduled series opener in Leeds, England's T20 World Cup preparations finally get under way when they take on Pakistan in Birmingham on Saturday, 2.30pm UK time.
With bigger fish to fry in a few weeks’ time, punters would be wise to take a cautious approach to this series, but given both teams flopped badly at last year’s 50-over World Cup in India, I suspect camps on either side will be keen to win some matches and settle on correct formulas pretty quickly.
Reliable Rizwan hard to oppose
A couple of names to note for Pakistan are Mohammad Rizwan and Naseem Shah, with both men interesting in their respective Pakistan markets.
Rizwan is a well-known figure and a class act to boot, an astonishing average of 50.47 in this format from 96 matches illustrating his consistency with the bat and the fact he generally makes big scores, and wins the top Pakistan market, once getting set. A strike-rate of 128.22 isn’t quite so flash, but that matters little for top batsman betting purposes when batting at the top of the order.
His record is this format is actually that little bit better than Babar Azam’s, so be prepared to take Rizwan in this market once batting orders and team tactics become a little bit clearer after the series opener.
Saim Ayub is a terrific young talent who is likely to open the batting, so Babar could well continue to bat at number three – another factor in Rizwan's favour.
Injuries have meant we haven’t always seen as much of Shah as we would have liked in recent years, but he’s another I can easily see myself backing against the more popular Shaheen Afridi as the series progresses.
A terrific young quick who swings the new ball and bowls very well at the death, Shah might have to bide his time to force his way back into the Pakistan starting XI, but he is top-class when fit and firing.
Salt the standout bet for England
First up, I’ll be keeping things simple by siding with PHIL SALT in the top England batsman market at 4/1.
As ever, this looks a deep field, but Salt is very much a case of the man for here and now. Salt has starred at the IPL in recent weeks, stepping in as a late replacement for Jason Roy at Kolkata Knight Riders and scoring 435 runs at an eye-watering strike-rate of 182.00.
Jos Buttler heaped praise on Salt’s improved all-round game when speaking to Sky Sports Cricket earlier in the week, no surprise given Buttler was forced to play a supporting role when England’s white-ball team toured the Caribbean in late 2023 and Salt made two centuries in the five-match T20I series.
"He can keep too, is he going to keep?" 🤔🧤
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) May 22, 2024
"Nope." 😅 pic.twitter.com/MiebWFuwFc
That Salt has been able to back that up in the best franchise competition in the world speaks volumes about his development and he has cemented his position alongside his captain at the top of the order for this series and the upcoming World Cup. Even Jonny Bairstow, with all his white-ball credentials, has been forced to find another spot in the batting order because of Salt's red-hot form.
Of course, Will Jacks and Harry Brook, along with Buttler, can be expected to have their moments in the series, but Salt outshone all three against the West Indies and his IPL exploits confirm he remains in fine form.
All things considered, 4/1 looks fair enough and I’ll be backing England’s latest top-order star to kick off the summer in style, one that might yet see him in the frame for Test honours if England’s management opt to select another Bazball-style wicket-keeper batsman when the longer format returns in July.
Preview published at 1605 BST on 23/05/24
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