The second iconic leg of this amazing English summer begins this week when old rivals England and Australia battle it out in the latest renewal of The Ashes series. England got one over the enemy when they dumped Australia out of the World Cup at the semi-final stage and will look to dominate the longer format of the game too.
Five Test matches will be played in barely six weeks so for the players involved this is going to be a test in every meaning of the word. Australia currently have the urn so England know they need to win the series to get it back.
Schedule
1st Test: 1-5 Aug at Edgbaston
2nd Test: 14-18 Aug at Lord’s
3rd Test: 22-26 Aug at Headingley
4th Test: 4-8 Sept at Old Trafford
5th Test: 12-16 Sept at The Oval
England
This has been the format of the game that England have had the more issues in during recent times. Even when they have won matches and series it hasn’t been particularly convincing and we got a taste of that last week when they laboured to victory over Ireland in a display which was about as unimpressive as it gets until the third morning when they skittled their opponents in conditions which suited them perfectly.
England have had issues with their batting against the red ball for quite some time and there were certainly no signs that anything has changed in that regard against Ireland. If England are going to regain the Ashes then you would think their bowlers, and their seam bowlers in particular, are going to have to come to the party in a huge way. England as a team have to be at it right from the start of the series.
Australia
There is no doubt that Australia have a strength in their bowling attack compared to their batting as well although with Smith and Warner back now their batting offers a little more than it has done. The primary concern you would have with this Australia side is a potential for injuries to key players. This is an extremely truncated series so you would think either they are going to have to rotate, in particular with their bowlers, so it will be interesting to see what they have in reserve.
Although this is Australia’s strongest suit they have actually only won two of their last seven series and they haven’t won a series in England since 2001 so all of a sudden there are cracks appearing in their make up. They chose to warm up for this series against each other but if that was an exercise for their batsmen to find form it failed miserably as it was a bowlers paradise. That said, it might have been ideal preparation for them here as these matches are likely to be bowler dominated.
Head-to-Head
There have been 81 previous series between these two rival nations with Australia having the upper hand overall. They have won 39 of them to the 34 that England have come out on top in. There have also been eight draws. England have won four of the last six series though and have the only away win since 2001 when Andrew Strauss’ side won in 2010-11 so recent history favours England for sure.
39 of those series have been in England, where as you would expect the home side hold what advantage there is. They have won 20 of those home series and drawn four of them so there are 15 wins for Australia, although as I say they have not won a series in England since 2001. In terms of individual matches they have met 346 times with England winning 108 to the 144 wins for Australia. There have been 94 draws.
Betting
Let’s have this right. This is NOT going to be the 2005 Ashes series. There is a strong case to be made that these are the two worst batting line ups we’ll ever see in this age old rivalry and as such I don’t think we’re going to see a high scoring series or many drawn matches. In fact, unless there is an avalanche of rain I don’t think we’re going to see a draw at all.
This battle will be won and lost between the top four of Australia and the England 5-8 in their order. Whoever scores the most runs in those quartets will win the series, I’m pretty sure of that. I’ve got to think that will be England given that their batting strength will be away from the new ball which is going to dominate this series all ends up. The toss will be important if the dry weather continues but I’ve still got to favour England. There isn’t much between the two bowling attacks so with England having the greater strength away from the new ball I’ll take them to win the series. I don’t see anyone winning this 5-0 so I’ll look to top up the profits on England to win 3-2 and 4-1.
Tips
Back England to win The Ashes for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Betway
Back them here:
Back England to win 3-2 for a 2/10 stake at 8.00 with Betfred
Back them here:
Back England to win 4-1 for a 1/10 stake at 10.00 with Coral
Back them here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2019
