Then, finally, this month, ended the long wait for an international title when the Paul Collingwood-captained 20-over side flew back from the West Indies with the ICC World Twenty20 trophy on board. Spread punters who bought England’s outright index with Sporting Index at 21 were partying long into the night when the skipper hit the winning runs against arch-rivals Australia thanks to a market make-up of 60.

The Durham all-rounder hands the reigns back to returning leader Andrew Strauss for the visit of Bangladesh to Lord’s and the first home Test of the summer. Patriotic spread punters have fared well against this opposition. In ten years and a total of 17 attempts the Tigers have never recorded victory over England in any form of the game. A fact which, allied to the visitors’ rock-bottom ICC Test ranking, makes them big outsiders with the bookies. Spread buyers of the home team’s win index will be relying on this record to continue, while any sellers of their win index with Sporting Index will do so knowing that they face an improving outfit.

One concern such spread sellers might have, though, comes with the wrist injury sustained by leading batsman Tamim Iqbal. The big-hitter was one of few bright notes when the teams played at Mirpur and Chittagong in February and March of this year. However, the conditions in England will be quite different to the ones the Bangladeshis are used to on the subcontinent. Those spread punters looking to buy England’s supremacy will be buoyed by opposition coach Jamie Siddons highlighting the weather as a potential problem for his charges.

England’s party included a few unfamiliar faces during the Tour of Bangladesh, and Andy Flower is again expected to use the opportunity of facing inferior competitors to shuffle his pack. Eoin Morgan is one man who could be brought in, and he represents an interesting conundrum for spread punters in the player performance markets. On the one hand, buyers of his runs spread will know the inventive Irish-born left-hander has been in blistering form for the One Day team. On the other, sellers of this spread will know that it is a step into the unknown. Should he earn a maiden Test cap, Sporting Index spread punters that elect to buy his runs will be keeping their fingers crossed for a display like those which have seen him average 45 for the ODI team and record knocks of 55 against West Indies, 67 not out versus Pakistan and a top score of 85 not out when playing South Africa in Johannesburg on just his second appearance.

Another naturalised Englishman who always attracts spread bettors’ attention in the same market is Kevin Pietersen. The Barmy Army favourite was man of the tournament in the Caribbean – any buyers of his runs for this Test will not need reminding that he hit 248 in six games en route to collecting the individual honour, nor that this series represents the opportunity to nudge his Test average from 49.26 to north of 50. Sporting Index cricket traders looking to profit in the 50-ups and 100-ups markets will turn to KP with the hope of him adding to the 18 half-centuries and 16 centuries he’s already recorded in 60 matches and 108 innings.

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