With one eye on the Ashes, England began their first test for nearly 8 months at the start of the week, travelling to Antigua to face the West Indies.

Things got off to a disastrous start as Jonathan Trott was caught out on the 3rd ball of the test; West Indies then swiftly dispatched of England captain Alastair Cook and Gary Balance to leave them on an embarrassing 34-3. However, this left the pairing of Ian Bell and Joe Root, who reinvigorated what was looking like a dismal return to test cricket; Root was out for 83, leaving England on 211-4. Bell was next out, but not before reaching 143 and his 22nd test century in the process.



England eventually ended day 1 on 347-5, with Stokes and Tredwell carrying over to start day 2 on 74 and 3 respectively. England would have been eyeing 500 after such a strong finish to the first day; however, Stokes could only get an extra 5 runs before being caught out, whilst Tredwell was then out for 8. Things went from bad to worse, with England only managing a paltry 42 runs from their final 5 wickets to finish their first innings on 399 all out.

West Indies got off to a similarly ignominious start, quickly slipping to 99-4 as Smith, Bravo, Samuels and Brathwaite fell one by one; the latter two managed 33 and 39 respectively, and remain West Indies’ top run scorers so far. However, they are poised to be overtaken by Blackwood and Chanderpaul; Blackwood finished day 2 on 30 runs, and has a spread of 58-62 in regards his total runs for the innings; Chanderpaul, currently on 29 runs, is slightly higher at a spread of 75-80. Our Spreadex traders aren’t expecting this pairing to last that much longer, with a 5th West Indies Wicket spread, i.e. the score at the time of the next wicket, of 194-199, leaving around 40 more runs between the pair. West Indies’ Runs spread also leaves them shy of England, with Spreadex offering 321-331 off of their current 155 total.



Going into day 3, starting at 3pm GMT, England remain in the better position, at a 25:10 spread of 17.2-18.7 to take the match compared to West Indies’ 25:10 spread of 4.6-6.1, where the winner gets 25 points, a draw gets 10 points and the loser gets zero. In terms of the series markets, England’s first innings performance has given them the edge, at a 25:10 spread of 45-48 compared to West Indies’ 25:10 spread of 22-25.