Sir Ian Botham says England are the most feared Test side in the world
Beefy expects James Vince to impress against Pakistan
Thursday 14 July 2016 10:11, UK
Sir Ian Botham says England are the most feared Test side in the world and deserve to be top of the ICC rankings.
Alastair Cook's team are fourth in the official world rankings behind Australia, India and this summer's tourists Pakistan, who they face in the first Test at Lord's on Thursday, live on Sky Sports.
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England have won four of their seven Test series since a shock home defeat to Sri Lanka in 2014, with their victory over Angelo Mathews' men earlier this summer following triumphs against India, Australia and South Africa.
Cook's side have also drawn with New Zealand and West Indies in that time, with their only defeat coming against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates last November.
England can leapfrog Pakistan and tie India with a 2-0 or 3-1 series win, but former skipper Botham insists they are already the best side in the world regardless of where they are ranked come the end of the four Test matches.
The Sky Sports commentator said: "England are the best side in the world right now and certainly the most feared - they proved it against Australia and then beat South Africa on their own soil.
"England are a confident side and a very well-organised unit. I don't pay too much attention to the ranking system, they deserve to be number one in the world now. "
Pakistan's recent record in England is poor, with 3-0 and 3-1 defeats in 2006 and 2010 respectively, and Botham does not expect things to improve this summer, despite the hosts being without record wicket-taker Jimmy Anderson and all-rounder Ben Stokes for the opening Test.
"It will be an exciting series but I can't see Pakistan winning a match," said Botham, who has tipped England to win the series 3-0 at 7/2 with Sky Bet.
England have had their problems at the top of the order and have countered that by moving Yorkshire's Joe Root up to No 3 following Nick Compton's decision to take a break from the sport.
Root had an indifferent series against Sri Lanka, scoring 87 runs in the series, and slipped down to number four in the ICC rankings, but Botham believes it is the right move to promote him up the order.
He said: "I've no problem with Joe batting at three. All the best batsmen in world cricket bat at three - look at [Ricky] Ponting and [Viv] Richards.
"Joe is the best batsman in the world right now, and I'm sure he'll be fine with moving up the order."
Botham feels the move could also provide an opportunity for James Vince, who only scored 54 runs in his four innings against Sri Lanka, to stake his claim for the number four spot and is tipping the Hampshire captain to go well in the series, at 8/1 in his Sky Bet tips.
Botham said: "Root and Cook are too short in the betting for me, there's no value backing them in my book.
"Vince is a quality player and has an opportunity to make number four his own, he just needs a big score and I'm sure he'll kick on from there."
Watch the first Investec Test between England and Pakistan from Lord's, live on Sky Sports 2 from 10am on Thursday.
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BEEFY'S BETS
Pakistan Series
England win - 4/11
England win 3-0 - 7/2
Top England bat: James Vince - 8/1
Top England bowler: Chris Woakes - 100/30
Double - Vince most runs and Woakes most wickets - 33/1
Treble - England win series, Vince most runs and Woakes most wickets - 40/1
1st Test v Pakistan
England win - 4/5
Top England bat 1st inns James Vince - 8/1
Top England bowler 1st inns Chris Woakes - 3/1
Vince top England runs and Woakes top wickets (1st inns) - 25/1
England wins, Vince top England runs, Woakes top England wickets - 33/1
