AUTHOR: Star Sports Content

STAR PREVIEW: England v India with RYAN SIDEBOTTOM

What a week it’s been – it was great to be invited on to BBC Breakfast on Tuesday to discuss all things Cricket World Cup – even though I made the schoolboy error of thinking my flip-flops wouldn’t be spotted. Quite the opposite – the camera found them like a magnet 🙁

It was also fun to do a radio interview on BBC Radio 2 with Zoe Ball and even I worked out that the flip-flops wouldn’t be seen on radio !!

So, after the Ritz on Monday where I had the honour of making the Star Sports Greyhound Derby Draw it’s been quite a week – have also slotted in playing a couple of games of cricket too and I must admit I’m exhausted !!

Thankfully the Lionesses power on – what a performance against Norway who, on paper, looked tough opponents. They’ve got great momentum and whilst the USA are currently the best in the world – I still think they’ll give them one hell of a battle in the semi-final.

It’s been tougher for England in the cricket and no surprise to see starsports.bet narrowly favouring India in what should be a classic encounter at Edgbaston on Sunday.

Although India are narrow favourites, it’s virtually a coin-flip. Speaking of coin-flips, I hope England win the toss and get in to bat first. I think the early tactic should be to attack and hopefully put India under early pressure.

England still have the weight of the nation on their shoulders but they’ve suffered unexpected defeats, whereas India have just about the perfect CV. It’s not a match for looking too far ahead. England just need to go out and play their game and not get too het up by the permutations.  If England lose, it’s out of England’s hands anyway after Pakistan beat Afghanistan on Saturday.

England are also likely to face plenty of spin at Edgbaston and need to be on their guard.

Latest team news is that Jason Roy is expected to return to the team after recovering from a torn hamstring.

I’m switching to UNDER 10.5 match sixes in what is likely to be a cagey affair.

Joe Root copes well with spin and plays well (especially) against India so looks solid at 11/4 to be England’s top run scorer.

Chris Woakes to be England’s top wicket taker at 7/2 is worth an interest. India bat all the way down so it’s going to be some battle.

For India, I am splitting stakes on Rohit Sharma (3/1) and Hardik Pandya (9/1) to be their top run scorer.

RECOMMENDED BETS (scale of 1-100 points)
BACK UNDER 10.5 MATCH SIXES 8 pts at 5/6 with starsports.bet
BACK JOE ROOT ENGLAND TOP RUN SCORER 4 pts at 11/4 with starsports.bet
BACK CHRIS WOAKES ENGLAND TOP WICKET TAKER 2 pts at 7/2 with starsports.bet
BACK ROHIT SHARMA INDIA TOP RUN SCORER 2 pts at 3/1 with starsports.bet
BACK HARDIK PANDYA INDIA TOP RUN SCORER 2 pts at 9/1 with starsports.bet


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(excluding Cricket World Cup ante-post, Rocket Mortgage Classic, NZ v Australia)



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