One of the high profile and prestigious series in Test cricket gets underway in the early hours of Wednesday morning when Australia and England begin the latest series of The Ashes as the oldest rivalry in cricket is renewed.
By Ashes standards the build-up to this series has been a little low key with no UK broadcaster in Australia and the weather curtailing the warm up matches but once the series gets underway the importance of it won’t be lost on anyone.
Schedule
1st Test: 8-12 Dec at Brisbane
2nd Test: 16-20 Dec at Adelaide (day/night)
3rd Test: 26-30 Dec at Melbourne
4th Test: 5-9 Jan at Sydney
5th Test: 14-18 Jan at TBC
Australia
This will be the first time since the beginning of the year that Australia will venture out in the white clothing against the red ball. They have built much of their international year around T20 cricket and received the ultimate reward for that when they lifted the T20 World Cup last month. Their build-up to this series hasn’t been the best. The players who weren’t at the World Cup have had some Sheffield Shield action but the rest haven’t been able to get much red ball cricket.
The other thing which has impacted their preparation for this series is the fact their captain resigned three weeks before the first Test due to texting scandals. Pat Cummins has taken over but it is a big ask for an inexperienced captain to start such a big job in a series as high profile as this one is. Australia were beaten at home by India this time last year so Cummins isn’t exactly taking over a winning unit in this format of the game. Australia do have the urn though so they only need to draw the series to keep it.
England
England have had a chequered lead up to this series as well. They were outplayed on their home patch by India in the summer but the huge positive for them heading over to Australia is that Ben Stokes has got his mental health back under control and is here to compete for his country. England have a poor record in Australia but expectation back home probably has never been much lower heading into a series of this magnitude so that might help their chances.
There are a few other things that England will hope help their chances. The first of those is that the fifth Test has been pulled out of Perth and it is said wherever holds it now will have it as a day/night match which will help their swing bowlers get the ball going around. England will also be holed up in hotels around play so won’t have to put up with the chat from the locals. England lack warm up practice but in a series which has five Test matches in six weeks having their feet up leading up to the series might not be a bad thing either.
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Series Betting
If you look at the odds and the general consensus then you would assume that Australia only have to turn up and stand up to win but I’m not convinced that is necessarily the case. There have been a few things in the lead up to the series which have gone in the favour of England and makes the potential of this series being a closer one a little more likely. Australia have two hotspots – Brisbane and Perth. The latter has already had their Test match pulled and the former is likely to be dogged by rain so it might be that England have a more level playing field to operate on.
I’m not saying England will win the series but the odds against on them staying within 1.5 wins suddenly doesn’t look too bad. If the Brisbane Test is drawn because of the weather then with two day-night matches and a game at Melbourne where England don’t have the worst record recently there is certainly enough potential for England to win a match and if the Australian summer doesn’t improve weather wise that might be all they need to cover a 1.5 handicap.
Series Player Betting
There are a couple of player bets that I like over the course of the series. I’m not going to go too deep into outright bets. As I said with the Big Bash League the Covid restrictions are changing far too often in Australia to be comfortable having money tied up for six weeks when things could change halfway through. I’ll go with a couple though with the first of them being Mitchell Starc to be the leading Australia bowler. Usually you would look at Josh Hazlewood or Nathan Lyon in this series but with the amount of rain that has been in this part of the world you would think Lyon will see his impact restricted while the swing bowlers might edge out the seamers given the conditions. Starc will swing the new ball and perhaps just as importantly he can blast out the tail so I think he’ll take some stopping as the top Australia bowler, particularly when you consider Pat Cummins could be impacted by the captaincy.
I think the 14/1 on Haseeb Hameed could look a big price if he plays all five matches but he isn’t as established in the side as Ollie Pope and at 14/1 the talented Surrey youngster looks a big price to be the top England batsman in the series. If all goes to plan for England then Pope will be kept away from the new ball at the beginning of his innings and he could be in the ripe position to go very well in this series. Pope is one of the most talented batsmen England have had in a while and with no mystery bowling to contend with he should be able to capitalise on any platforms that are laid for him. Root is clearly the man to beat in this market but Australians tend to hunt opposing captains and the magnitude of this series could impact his form while Stokes might be a little underprepared and five matches in six weeks after so long out of the game might be too much for him. At 14/1 we should get a good run for our money over the course of the series.
Tips
Back England (+1.5) to beat Australia for a 3/10 stake at 2.50 with Coral
Back them here:
Back M.Starc Top Australia Series Bowler for a 2/10 stake at 5.00 with Betfair
Back him here:
Back O.Pope Top England Series Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 15.00 with Betway
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