While a majority of the visiting teams come prepared to counter the threat of James Anderson, the likes of Stuart Broad come as an out of syllabus question, particularly in English conditions. With his exemplary control over the Dukes ball, he decimates oppositions with his quality and crafty seam bowling. In the first innings of this Test match, he showed that he is no mug with the bat as well. He scored a quickfire 62 before normalcy returned with an innings figures of 6-31-14-4. The West Indies need to overcome Mount Everest with a target of 399 to win the series. Even draw seems unlikely at this stage.

Who are the favourites?

England has a habit of coming from behind after being 1 down in recent Test series. They won 3-1 in South Africa after losing the first Test match. With plenty of batting and bowling options at their disposal, England is a daunting prospect in their own backyard. The West Indies batsmen haven't lived up to their expectations in the latter half of this series, with a few senior players finding it tough against the likes of Broad and Co.  The West Indies will find it tough to beat England due to the following reasons-

1) England has a 7-5 record at the Old Trafford against the West Indies in Tests. What's more intriguing, they have lost just twice in the 21st Century at this ground. They know the pitch, ground dimensions and other conditions better than any team who has played here. 

2) The Joe Root and Stuart Broad factors will provide England with an edge over the West Indies. These two are stalwarts in their departments and provide much stability to England. 

3) England has an all-round squad which can tackle spinning as well as seaming conditions better than their WI counterparts. What makes this team a formidable outfit in the Isles is a variety in bowling, experienced batting in these conditions and a few athletes like Ben Stokes.

4) The Ben Stokes factor- Very rarely do we see Ben Stokes falter with both bat and ball in a single match. More often than not, he lends his support to England by either scoring a truckload of runs or picking up a plethora of wickets.


Scorecard Predictions for Day 5

As England have set the West Indies a target of 399, expect them to win by approximately 190 runs and clinch the series 2-1. They will find the required momentum against Pakistan. 

Toss Prediction

Expect the captain winning the toss to bat first even if there are some cloud covers and a green top. The average first-innings score is 333. Also, another factor is that the average fourth-innings score is 166 which prompts the skipper winning the toss to bat first and put the opposition under pressure in the last innings. 


Match Winning Chances

England will be buoyed by its performance at the same venue a few days ago. They have the edge over the West Indies in this Test match as well. 

England- 80%

West Indies- 20%