England vs Sri Lanka - The Best of the Bets Part II

Having tipped England to win the ODI series (at a handy 5/2), The Trumpet ventures forth searching for value in the upcoming Test series. Join me over the jump for the fixed odds and spread market tips.

I like the look of a drawn series which is available at 4/1 with Paddy Power (for 1-1) that you might want to run alongside a little saver on an England series win at 3/1 with Stan James. Once we can be sure of his selection, I fancy Ryan Sidebottom as England's top bowler (9/2 with Paddy Power). Finally Michael Vandort looked very good Down Under recently and might be worth a small punt with Paddy Power at 15/2 for the top Lankan batsman, should the big guns fail.

On the spreads, Sportingindex are offering England's series ton ups at 80 - 95, which the Trumpet sees as a useful buy. (For new readers of this column, this means that I expect England's century-makers to score a combined total of at least 95 runs above the 100 mark: so one knock of 196 from KP puts me in the money or a 146 from Colly with a 150 from Michael Vaughan). The Trumpet's much er... trumpeted fears for the England tail leads me to suggest a big sell on that market available at 190 - 210 (batsmen 8 to 11 total runs for the series). Finally, The Trumpet is recommending a buy on Alastair Cook's total runs market quoted at 195 - 210 - he can hit tons on the sub-continent and the Lankans' new ball attack is not as strong as it might be.

[The Tooting Trumpet] [Image: Getty]