We have looked into the outright and the top batsmen markets ahead of the upcoming Ashes series, and now is the time to get stuck into the respective offerings for the top team bowlers before the play gets underway in Birmingham on Thursday.
You would have to say the batting line ups in this series look very much on the weaker side of ideal so I would imagine that the bowlers of both teams will be licking their lips with relish at the thought of getting stuck into events.
Top England Series Bowler
The top England bowler market is a relatively competitive one for a few reasons. The obvious one is that Jimmy Anderson has been an injury scare in the lead up to the series and while he’s the favourite to be the top wicket taker he’s not the short and skinny prices he has gone off at.
One advantage we might have when betting on this field is that England have already named their side for the first Test, with Anderson, Stuart Broad, Chris Woakes and Moeen Ali the quartet of bowlers being assisted by Ben Stokes. However how much of an advantage is that? I say that because these five Tests will be played in under seven weeks so it would be a huge effort for the same four bowlers to play in all of them.
That might leave the door open for Jofra Archer to come in and nail someone at the line. With Woakes having had a monster summer so far and Anderson carrying an injury, there are obvious storylines for those two to be rotated and if Broad has a flat spell or two he could be vulnerable. There is a 10 day gap after the first Test before the second and Archer will definitely be fit by then. If he comes in and plays the last four Tests and roughs some batsmen up along the way he can still go well. He’ll be assigned the task of shooting out the tail and those wickets alone could see him threaten at a double figure price.
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Top Australia Series Bowler
It would appear as though Australia are all too aware of the hectic schedule for this series because although they haven’t followed England’s lead and announced their team for the first Test there are enough noises coming out from enough places to suggest that Mitchell Starc has not made the line up for Edgbaston.
That has seen the market react accordingly but what we don’t know is who has made the grade. It appears as though James Pattinson has done thanks to his county exploits for Nottinghamshire, while Pat Cummins seems to be in but I can’t believe that after a World Cup in which he played every match, he is going to play all five of these games so he’s a vulnerable favourite in my eyes. I’m not convinced Peter Siddle is going to get into the side as much as he would like which leaves me heading to Josh Hazlewood.
He hasn’t had a World Cup in his legs so he should be fresh enough to do all five matches if anyone is. He took 16 wickets on the last tour of England and 21 in the series down under two winters ago so he has a good record against England. We saw in a lot of the World Cup matches that it was the seam hitters rather than the swing bowlers who have done much of the damage this summer but Hazlewood can do both anyway. He is very much in the Glenn McGrath line and length mould who tests a technique of the batsmen. He won’t find many English techniques hard to exploit so at 9/2 pretty much knowing that Starc isn’t starting the series I’ll go with Hazlewood to lead Australia’s wicket chart.
Tips
Back J.Archer Top England Series Bowler for a 1/10 stake at 11.00 with Betway
Back him here:
Back J.Hazlewood Top Australia Series Bowler for a 2/10 stake at 5.50 with Betfair
Back him here:
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