The crazily busy winter of international cricket continues later this week as Australia and Pakistan kick off a three match Test series which takes in the traditional Christmas and New Year Test matches.
Both sides are hunting down India at the top of the ICC Test rankings but they both slipped up in that quest recently when losing high profile series last month. That means they both need to bounce back here which adds a dynamic to the series.
Schedule
1st Test: 15-19 Dec at Brisbane (day-night)
2nd Test: 26-30 Dec at Melbourne
3rd Test: 3-7 Jan 2017 at Sydney
Australia
Although they won the final Test of three against South Africa amid the controversy of the Faf du Plessis ball tampering scandal, Australia were well beaten in that series. South Africa exposed a lot of demons in those three matches and it will be interesting to see if the 2-3 weeks since then have allowed the Aussies to regroup.
Australia have now lost their last two Test series after copping a real good hiding in Sri Lanka prior to the South Africa series. There would have been lots of focus and attention on this series anyway given that it goes through the holiday season but the form and pressure on the side will intensify that scrutiny.
Pakistan
Pakistan were well beaten in a two match Test series in New Zealand prior to landing in Australia and while the margin of those defeats were a huge concern we shouldn’t forget their excellent form over the rest of 2016. They have been to England and come away from a drawn series and they demolished the West Indies in the UAE.
This is a very experienced Pakistan squad that tours Australia and they are coached by Mickey Arthur who will be eager to get one over his former employers. Pakistan had a warm up match for the series which they won comfortably and that suggests they are treating this series incredibly seriously which bodes well.
Head to Head
These two famous cricketing nations have played 22 previous Test series with Australia winning half of those and Pakistan triumphing in just six of them. They have been inseparable in five of those series. Pakistan have never won a series in Australia in 11 attempts. They have drawn three and lost eight.
In matches between the two things are a little closer. Australia have 28 wins in Test matches against Pakistan while Pakistan have 14 and they have drawn 17 times. That record is much more dominant in Australia though.
Series Odds
Australia are no bigger than 1/4 to win the series with the draw a 7/1 punt and the tourists as big as 8/1. In terms of the correct scores on offer you can get 15/8 on an Australian clean sweep and 10/3 they win 2-0. A 2-1 Pakistan win is 14/1 and they are 100/1 to sweep the series.
In terms of the top batsmen for each side most bookmakers have Dave Warner and Steve Smith as 2/1 favourites in the Australia market with Usman Khawaja 4/1 while Misbah ul Haq is a 3/1 favourite in the respective Pakistan market. Azhar Ali and Younis Khan are both 4/1 shots. Mitchell Starc is a 7/4 favourite to be Australia’s top bowler and Mohammad Amir the 5/2 favourite for Pakistan.
Betting
Given how comprehensively both sides were beaten in their last Test series this isn’t necessarily an easy series to bet on, especially with Australia being so heavily favoured. I favour them in the series too but I can’t be getting stuck into outrageous bets off the back of what we saw from them against South Africa.
With that in mind it is a regular trip to the side markets for a bet in the series and I’m going to focus on the top Australia series bowler. I get why Mitchell Starc is a favourite in the series but with the quality of left armers Pakistan have at their disposal if there is one thing the touring batsmen should know how to play it is left arm seam.
That certainly seemed to be the case in New Zealand recently when it was the right armers of Tim Southee and Colin de Grandhomme that caused the most issues. With all that taken into account I think it could be worth dodging Starc and taking him on with the monotonously accurate Josh Hazlewood, who as luck would have it was the top Australia bowler in the South Africa series and should be full of confidence.
Tips
WON – Back J.Hazlewood Top Australia Series Bowler for a 3/10 stake at 3.00 with Ladbrokes
Back him here:
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