England vs West Indies first Test prediction and cricket betting tips

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Where to watch England vs West Indies

Sky Sports Cricket & Main Event, 11am Wednesday

Best bets

Ben Duckett top England first-innings runscorer
1pt 9-2 general

Kirk McKenzie to score a first-innings fifty
1pt 9-2 Coral, Ladbrokes

Alick Athanaze to score a first-innings fifty
1pt 4-1 Coral, Ladbrokes

England vs West Indies first Test prediction

England's first Test of the summer against the West Indies marks the end of the road for record wicket-taker James Anderson, who will retire after winning his 188th cap at Lord's.

Anderson made his Test debut at the Home of Cricket against Zimbabwe in 2003 and his career-best bowling figures of 7-42 came against the Windies at Lord's in 2017.

He warmed up for his farewell appearance by taking 7-35 in Lancashire's County Championship clash with Nottinghamshire last week and is 6-1 to be named player of the match in the his final Test.

Hills offer 9-2 that Anderson takes the last wicket of the match, as Stuart Broad did in his final game against Australia last summer, and the West Indies are 12-1 to spoil the legendary bowler's retirement party.

The Windies upset the odds in their most recent Test in January when they beat Australia by eight runs in Brisbane thanks to a stunning seven-wicket haul from rookie fast bowler Shamar Joseph.

Fellow quicks Jason Holder, Jayden Seales and Alzarri Joseph were part of a West Indies attack who took only four wickets in 85 overs against a youthful County Select XI in last week's warm-up game.

The Windies' bowlers will need to sharpen up at Lord's, where England racked up 524-4 declared in 82.4 overs against Ireland last summer.

Zak Crawley (56), Ben Duckett (182), Ollie Pope (205) and Joe Root (56) did the damage in that match and remain England's top four with Harry Brook, captain Ben Stokes and exciting debutant Jamie Smith at numbers five, six and seven. 

Opener Duckett also enjoyed his second visit to Lord's last summer, scoring 98 and 83 in the Ashes Test against Australia.

The left-hander is worth backing to top-score in England's first innings. He made 153 out of 319 in February's third Test against India in Rajkot, scored a classy double-century for Nottinghamshire against Warwickshire in April and can enhance his impressive Lord's record.

While England's batting unit looks strong, Windies captain Kraigg Brathwaite is likely to be the only member of their top five with more than four Test caps.

Kirk McKenzie (73 and 17) and Alick Athanaze (74 and 66 not out) both made runs in the warm-up game in Beckenham and are eyecatching prices to score first-innings fifties.

Young left-hander McKenzie's first six Test innings yielded scores of 32 and nought against India and 50, 26, 21 and 41 against Australia in January.

Athanaze has also made a solid start to his career, scoring 47, 28 and 37 against India and making a valuable second-innings 35 against a top-class Australia attack in the victory at the Gabba.

England vs West Indies team news

England
Fast bowler Gus Atkinson will win his first Test cap and fellow debutant Jamie Smith is set to keep wicket. Spinner Shoaib Bashir has also been named in the team despite being loaned out by his county Somerset.

West Indies
Veteran paceman Kemar Roach has been ruled out of the series with a knee injury but former captain Jason Holder, who missed January's series in Australia, is available.

England vs West Indies weather

Cloudy but mostly dry for all five days with temperatures ranging from 18C to 22C

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