One of the greatest cricketing rivalries is finally here - The Ashes sees a very average English side up against an Australian side in transition.
It is obviously early days at the moment and a lot of people are pointing to the last time the Australians toured England but I have a feeling that this time will be different for a whole lot of reasons.
- This English side (Pietersen and Strauss) aside are not the same quality of that previous English team
- The last time England had Steve Harmison firing on all cylinders and his ability to move the ball wrecked the Aussies - I don't see an English bowler offering the same time this around
- The Aussies are here on a mission and have had a hard series against the South Africans to harden up their bowlers and find out what they have
- Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee and Peter Siddle are in a different calibre to the English attack
Which bring us to the betting offered on this series.
Value bets that I picked up are:
- Australia to win by 3-0, 4-0 and 5-0. World Sports Betting are offering 8/1, 10/1 and 16/1 respectively and not the worst bets around. I particularly like the first two
- Top Aussie batter - Ponting tops the odds at 2/1 but I think Katich and Mike Hussey at 4/1 are better value
- Top English batter - I don't see how you can look beyond Kevin Pietersen at 2.2/1 but Freddie Flintoff at 10/1 might not be a bad punt...
Would be great to see the Aussies make mincemeat of the Poms on this tour....
hey marc!
ReplyDeletehope you are doing well. Yeah, I'd like to see some ass kicking from the Aussies but i would like a bit of fight too, from the English! :)
I would like to see them win the first test and put the Aussies on the backfoot, just to make it a little interesting.
I see Brett Lee has been injured... Pity I was thinking he would have made a serious dent in the English batting lineup on current form...
ReplyDeleteLet's go Aussie