West Indies v England third Test predictions & cricket betting tips

Free cricket tips, best bets and analysis for the third Test between West Indies and England which starts on Thursday in Grenada.

Where to watch

BT Sport 1, 2pm Thursday

Best bets

Dan Lawrence to score a first-innings fifty
2pts 5-2 BoyleSports

Saqib Mahmood top England first-innings wicket-taker
1pt 7-2 bet365, Coral, Ladbrokes

Team news

West Indies
The hosts have named an unchanged 13-man squad and could stick with the same 11, meaning batsman Kyle Mayers and uncapped paceman Anderson Phillip miss out.

England
Fast bowlers Ollie Robinson and Craig Overton are fit to return, possibly in place of Chris Woakes and Matt Fisher. Leg-spinner Matt Parkinson is pushing for a Test debut.

Third Test preview

England have been frustrated by some disciplined West Indies batting and lifeless pitches in the first two drawn Test matches but they are favourites to win the series decider in Grenada.

Joe Root won the toss and batted first in Antigua and Barbados, where he was able to declare and set the Windies fourth-innings targets of 286 and 282.

Taking 20 wickets on sluggish Caribbean pitches has proved beyond England, however, and they were frustrated by home skipper Kraigg Brathwaite at the Kensington Oval, where the opener faced 673 balls for his 160 and 56 not out.

England, who opted to leave out record-breaking fast bowlers James Anderson and Stuart Broad, have not been helped by Mark Wood, Ollie Robinson and Craig Overton's fitness problems and spinner Jack Leach bowled 94.5 overs in the second Test.

The tourists are favourites to clinch the series in Grenada, although a third straight draw is a big runner too, and they have fond memories of their only previous Test at the venue, a nine-wicket win in April 2015.

Rival captains Root and Brathwaite have led by example with the bat, scoring 284 and 304 runs in the series respectively, and both made centuries in the Grenada Test seven years ago.

Root's unbeaten 182 set up England's victory charge and he is jostling for man-of-the-match favouritism with all-rounder Ben Stokes, who scored his first Test century in 25 innings with a typically entertaining 120 in Barbados.

However, it may be worth backing a couple of England's less established players to shine in St George's.

Skipper Root praised the selfless batting of Dan Lawrence after his scores of 91 and 41 in Bridgetown helped set up a final-day push for victory and the Essex man is a tempting 5-2 to reach 50 in the first innings.

Lawrence has a great chance to nail down the number-four spot, having made 73 and 21 not out on his debut in Sri Lanka last January. His most recent away Test was against India in Ahmedabad, where he scored 46 and 50, and he also got starts in Antigua, contributing 20 and 37.

Paceman Saqib Mahmood had a promising debut in Barbados, where he took 2-58 from 27 overs in the first innings and dismissed top-order batsmen Shamarh Brooks and Nkumrah Bonner as the Windies wobbled second time around.

Mahmood also bowled Jermaine Blackwood with a perfect yorker that was called a no-ball and conjured up some reverse swing to trouble the home batters so he may well be the pick of the England attack in Grenada.

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