England approach the fourth and final Test against Pakistan, which begins at the Oval on Thursday, in prime form after taking an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the series.
England beat Pakistan by 167 runs at Headingley last time to underline their superiority in the series, and Andrew Strauss, the England captain, will make sure there is no letting up.
Not that the players will need any encouragement to maintain their momentum with an Ashes series on the horizon, and in the context of the series SportingOdds’ quote of 3-1 about an England win would normally look too big.
However, the weather threatens to play a big part with some heavy showers forecast for the first two days. With that uncertainty about the amount time which may be lost, and the draw offering little value at a general 4-7, take a look at the spread markets.
The answer may be to sell the Match Ton Ups market with Sporting Index at 98. The market is the aggregate of players’ runs over 100 in an innings.
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Given that weather disruption will make it more difficult for all the batsmen to build an innings, and that England specifically may find it harder to make headway with Pakistan able to bring back pace bowlers Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Mohammad Asif after both missed the first three Tests with injury, runs may not be so easy to accumulate.