The international summer finishes fittingly with a meaningful match between the two biggest rivals in the sport of cricket.
Australia looked like they were going to dominate the one day series with England when they won the first two matches but England have won the last two to level things up and the Royal London Series will be decided in a final match at Old Trafford on Sunday.
England have turned this series around with two really strong batting performances and one more gives them every chance of landing the series and ensuring they went unbeaten in every series they have played in any format this summer.
Australia have waned in the last couple of matches. They looked a really tired and jaded side in the previous match and with the plane home looming large focusing on the match rather than getting home could be their hardest task here.
England’s only issue at the minute looks to be with their death bowling but that will be an issue for a while. The one thing they are doing is taking wickets throughout the innings to make the death overs as comfortable as possible. It would be a huge surprise if England aren’t unchanged for this decider.
Australia are surely going to have to make changes after their last two performances. With this being a deciding match Mitchell Starc might be thrown back in even though he has looked shattered recently. Whether James Pattinson can go again remains to be seen. Ashton Agar could come in on a turning wicket.
This finale takes place at Old Trafford where England have already beaten Australia in this series. We saw in the 3rd ODI that this wicket is turning and with a few days of warm weather I expect this one to turn even more and that might well play even more into England’s hands as Australia have really struggled against Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali over the entire series thus far.
I think England will win this match. I think they have the momentum on their side and the conditions will suit them. Australia look a jaded side and it is hard to get up for matches the closer the end of the tour becomes. I’m already on England to win the series so I don’t need to back them to win this match but anyone not on England for the series could do worse than take them here.
My main bet in this match is for England to hit the most runs in the first 15 overs. We’ve had four matches in this series now and England have outscored Australia in the opening 15 overs in all four matches so how we’re still getting 10/11 on them doing it here I’ve no idea. When you factor in Alex Hales has to come good at some point that price looks far too big.
Another bet I like the look of is Moeen Ali’s performance. The line is at 38 but that doesn’t look high enough to be considering he has taken five wickets in his last two matches. We shouldn’t automatically assume he is going to bat but he’s batted in every match thus far in the series so there is a good chance he’ll get some time at the crease but I think this line is within his range with the ball especially on this turning track so I’ll go over that line.
Finally given how the wicket is going to turn here and the fact he goes into this match off the back of a wonderful performance in the last game I’m going to take Glenn Maxwell as the top Australia bowler. England are full of left handers in the middle order so Maxwell will have an eye on their outside edge.
Maxwell was the joint top wicket taker with Cummins in the previous match here in the series and I think this wicket is going to suit him even more now. Cummins is still the main danger but at 6/1 Maxwell looks overpriced.
Back England Highest 1st 15 Overs for a 5/10 stake at 1.91 with Skybet
Back M.Ali’s Performance – 38pts or more for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
Back G.Maxwell Top Australia Bowler for a 2/10 stake at 7.00 with Winner Sports
Blog cricket YTD: +29.33pts
