The Ashes continues on Thursday when Australia and England leave Perth behind them and head to Brisbane for the pink ball game which is the second Test of the series and one in which the home side could take full control of proceedings.
Australia rescued a losing position in the opening game of the series and have the chance to go two up with three to play here in Brisbane. There has been a lot of fallout for the way England lost the opener and they really need to better showing here else the series could get away from them quickly.
Australia
In a first Test which was like a rollercoaster ride, it was Australia who came up with the goods in the pressure moments to draw first blood in the series and if that is the worst they could be, as is expected to be the case, then they are entitled to be feeling very good about their chances even though their showing in that opening game was nothing like as strong as they would have wanted it to be. The fact that they won with a few issues still to address can only be a good thing.
Australia have an excellent record with the pink ball which is another thing that will give them confidence going into this match. They are comfortable with it and will be expecting to go two up with three to play. They are highly likely to do that if their likely reshuffled batting order delivers the goods like it did in the second innings in Perth. That offered them up the way forward with their opening partnership and gives them the chance to have even more depth with the bat here.
England
England have had to ride out a bit of a storm for the way they capsized in Perth in the opening game of the series. You wouldn’t say that England had that match won but they were in a position at lunch on the second day where they really should have put up a much stronger challenge than they eventually did, going from effectively 100-1 at lunch on day two to losing before stumps. As they so often are, England were architects of their own downfall which really annoyed their supporters.
The positive for England is that despite batting with no brain cells in either innings, they did get themselves into a position where they should have been able to control the match so having done that once there is no reason why they can’t do it again but the negative is that having thrown that healthy spot away they are now under pressure to make sure they win here as although the series wouldn’t be lost at 2-0 down, it is hard to see England winning three straight games when they have only won nine Tests in Australia since 1980.
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Team News
Although he wasn’t named in the original 12 man squad which Australia declared for this match, there is growing noise around the potential return of Pat Cummins. He would come in for Brendan Doggett. Usman Khawaja is out with injury so Josh Inglis is expected to feature. Beau Webster could come in for Nathan Lyon.
England have named their XI for the match as they often do ahead of the game. They will make one change which was an enforced one as Mark Wood picked up an injury in the previous match. Will Jacks will come in for him.
Betting
I’ll focus bets for this match around a couple of players with the first of those being Mitchell Starc. He has a performance total of 128.5 which doesn’t feel high enough when you consider that with the red ball in Perth he scored 222 points. With the pink ball he has 81 wickets at 17.08 and if Pat Cummins doesn’t return then Starc is clearly the threat. If he can score the nine runs to polish off the loose 8.5 points when we would need six wickets from Starc here. He has taken six in an innings in his last two pink ball matches and six in a match eight times. That line looks good to be covered and I’ll also take the 10/1 that he takes 10+ wickets in the match. He took 10 in Perth and although nine is the most he has taking in a pink ball match, he has usually has Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins to take wickets off him. There is every chance neither of those are around here so I’ll take Starc to decimate England again.
The other bet I like is for Will Jacks to top score for England in their first innings. We all know how day-night Test cricket works. Batting is generally easier in the day but can be a nightmare in twilight and at night so if England are starting their innings under lights they could easily be ripped through, as we saw in Perth when no lights were needed for England to collapse. In that Perth clash, the number eight top scored for England in their second innings. That is where Jacks is going to bat in this match and he has the aggressive style that if England are shot out at the top that he can plunder a few runs in a cameo to top score. He can also bat properly if he is in a partnership with a batter so that price of 16/1 looks a little high to me.
Tips
Back M.Starc’s Performance – Over 128.5 points for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with Bet365
Back M.Starc – 10+ wickets in the match for a 1/10 stake at 11.00 with Betway
Back W.Jacks Top England 1st Innings Batter for a 1/10 stake at 17.00 with Bet365
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