STAR PREVIEW: England v Afghanistan with RYAN SIDEBOTTOM

Another massive week of summer (!!!) sporting action and let’s hope the rain doesn’t cause as much havoc as it did last week to the Cricket World Cup and of course for those donning their top hats and tails at Royal Ascot.

I’ve never done Royal Ascot but it’s on the bucket list and I look forward to schmoozing with the best of them – but for this year I’ll just have to make do with the TV coverage.

I won’t see much of the opening day though as I’m heading to Old Trafford to watch England take on Afghanistan. I’m doing some ambassadorial work for Lancashire and looking forward to seeing England in action.

England made giant steps towards the semi-finals with an eight wicket win over the West Indies in Southampton last week but it came at a price. Both Eoin Morgan and Jason Roy suffered injuries.

I’m still confident of my starsports.bet ante-post pick England going the distance but there are plenty of teams playing good cricket and it’s really starting to bubble up nicely.

India look solid, Australia are strong despite not yet playing to their full potential yet in my opinion and a shout out too for New Zealand who are punching considerably above their weight.

Tuesday’s game will be one of the most sided in the whole tournament. 1/33 England tells you all you need to know so we need to look beyond the match odds.

With the injury question mark over Roy I have to stick with Joe Root (pictured) to be England’s top batsman. He knocked up a magnificent century against the Windies when stand-in opener and the 100/30 with starsports.bet makes plenty of appeal for the England’s top run scorer so far.

The Old Trafford wicket is often conducive to spin and for top wicket takers I can’t split Adil Rashid (7/2) and Jofra Archer (11/4) who comes fresh from his 3-30 against the West Indies.

The odds compilers seem to have pitched match sixes about right at 11.5 but in what should be a one-sided affair I’m going OVER if England decide to put on a show.

RECOMMENDED BETS (scale of 1-100 points)
BACK JOE ROOT TOP ENGLAND BATSMAN 4.5 pts at 100/30 with starsports.bet
BACK ADIL RASHID TOP ENGLAND WICKET TAKER 3 pts at 7/2 with starsports.bet
BACK JOFRA ARCHER TOP ENGLAND WICKET TAKER  3 pts at 11/4 with starsports.bet
BACK OVER 11.5 MATCHES SIXES 5 pts at 20/21 with starsports.bet

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