Betting tips / Frank Gregan / 05 June 2012 / Leave a comment Bet Now View Market

Frank Gregan likes the England team make-up and sees it as a winning formula in their upcoming final Test against the West Indies.

I confess that I don't know many professional cricketers, but I do know hundreds of professional sportsmen. The one thing about the personality traits of these guys is not some in-built desire to succeed and determination to reach the top of their profession. It's much more fundamental than that, the personalities of professional sportsmen mirror that of society.

Take the current England side and its melting pot of personnel. Led by the stoic and level-headed Andrew Strauss. He's a great off the field skipper, an ambassador for the game who expresses his views articulately and accurately, seldom courting controversy.

But that's not enough these days, the era of the Mike Brearley-style captaincy has been consigned to history. You have to be more than a motivator and tactically astute, you've got to be able to perform with bat, ball or both. Strauss's batting average is almost double that of Brearley's yet still he found himself under pressure at the start of the season which culminated in him getting the dreaded vote of confidence from the national selector.

The Middlesex man has once again silenced his critics and, aided by a West Indian pace attack that flatters to deceive, has sent a message out that he intends to carry on leading this bunch of merry men for as long as he can.

And what a bunch they are...

Kevin Pietersen
Probably the finest batsman that England have had in their side for many a year and boy isn't he prepared to let you know it! He's a match winner, capable of winning a game almost single-handedly but when things are not going his way he becomes petulant and obstinate. Having been ousted as skipper when it was pointed out that the world didn't revolve around him, it's fair to say that he can't be the easiest of players to handle.

Graham Swann
He's bubbly, enthusiastic and funny but hey, so is Peter Kay, that's Kay's job, Swann's is to be an attacking off-spinner. It's back to the business of reflecting society, we've all known a Graeme Swann in our workplace, very good at what they do but with a short attention span and a desire to pull a stunt at every opportunity. In profitable times they're accommodated, looked upon as the likeable rogue but when things turn sour...

Jonathan Trott
Single-minded, dependable and oh so protective of his wicket. All solid traits when things are going well but when the side starts to lose he'll be accused of being slow, stubborn and putting himself before the team.

Stuart Broad
Still looked upon as a youngster even though he will be 26-years-old later this month and has played nearly 50 Tests. When things are going well he's considered competitive, aggressive and crafty. When England are losing he's thought of as stroppy and sulky but we've been prepared to forgive that because he's still young. He's not, he needs to grow up.

And so it goes on but this article would be four times longer than it should be if we were to highlight all of the different personalities in the England dressing room. There is one thing that masks any deficiencies in character and that is winning matches and England are doing that so far this summer. They head into the third Test full of confidence and with rain forecast for four out of the five days the draw is a very short (2.22) with England at (2.1) and the West Indies (12.0).

That's a massive price for England, fuelled by the weatherman's prediction, the omission of Jimmy Anderson and the dead rubber factor. Weather forecasters are often wrong and even if they're not England can see off the West Indies in a much shorter period if necessary.

Can Strauss's team, including the mercurial KP, the rock solid and dependable Trott, the smiling assassin Swann and the quick, aggressive and agile Broad win it for England?

Or will the cocky and arrogant Pietersen flop, Tortoise Trott not score quickly enough, the joker Swann fall flat on his face and the moody Broad sulk as England fail to win?