After a test which saw little play but serious promise for England’s bowling attack, the home nation go into the penultimate test match one nil up in the series. The fourth test will be battled out at Headingly and Australia may well receive a boost by the return of experienced fast bowler Bret Lee.
However, another miserable weather forecast is expected when play is supposed to begin this Friday. The gloomy weather forecast has led to the odds on a draw being shortened to 6/5 following a big hit taken by the bookies after Australia batted out the final day at Edgbaston yesterday. Even before play began the odds of a draw were backed into 2/5 from 7/5. Blue Square’s Neil Lucas said “we tried our best to avoid the draw throughout but regardless of how short we made it, money kept coming.” Bookmakers will therefore be frightened of such an event recurring which is why most bookmakers are as short as 11/10 three days before the test even begins.
England meanwhile, despite leading the series, are as long as 10/3 with the bookmakers to win the fixture whilst they can be backed at 4/1 on the betting exchanges. The loss of Andrew Flintoff’s form from the first test may be responsible for this alongside the injured Kevin Pietersen. However, England’s younger bowlers seem to be holding their own, especially when the ball is swinging, and these may be generous odds if the weather holds out. Australia as always must be feared, especially with a player such as Bret Lee returning to the fold and they are therefore available at just 15/8 despite not yet recording a victory.
Andrew Strauss is favourite to be England’s top run scorer at 3/1 and on present form this might be the bet to have. Cook and Bell can be backed at 9/2 and 5/1 respectively whilst Flintoff is an outsider at 12/1. Hilfenhaus and Mitchell Johnson are joint favourite to be crowned top Australian bowler at 11/4, which seems fairly short, especially considering the recent form of Siddle who is available at 9/2 and may offer better value.
With rain making it increasingly likely that Headingly will be a washout draw, the series betting has seen England’s price reduced to 5/6, whilst the draw is 9/4 and Australia are as big as 11/2 to win the Ashes. Michael Clarke is 11/10 favourite to be the series top run scorer, whilst England captain Andrew Strauss is 3/1 and Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has been pushed out to 7/1, despite a magnificent 150 in the first test. However, there are still two tests to be played and you can expect all these series odds to fluctuate throughout so make sure you keep up to date with them here.
