Australia v England ODI Series

By Bigjoe

Commences Sunday 16th January 03.20 GMT

England prevailed 3-1 in one of the most emphatic Ashes wins in history. Australia suffered an unprecedented three innings defeats in a series and they looked totally outclassed in all departments.

England’s domination then continued in the first T20 game at Adelaide, but Australia bounced back to level that series in Melbourne. That win will have given them a big boost ahead of the ODI series that now concludes England’s tour.

Whilst Australia have slipped alarmingly in the Test rankings, they remain at the top in the ODI rankings. The World cup is around the corner and Australia will be looking to win that for the fourth successive time and they will see this series as the perfect build up.

England have improved in all formats and they too will be feeling confident about going into the World cup on a high, so the stage is set for an interesting battle.

Australia will be missing Ricky Ponting for the series due to a finger injury and the side will be captained by Michael Clarke, who is under immense pressure as a result of a poor run with the bat. Ashes hero Alistair Cook is not involved in this series for England, but Andrew Strauss returns as skipper and he along with the other in-form England batsmen will be looking to confirm the Ashes form.

 However I believe that in this shorter format, Australia will bounce back and put the bitter disappointment of the Ashes firmly behind them. Whilst they will continue to struggle in the Test Arena, in the 50 over format they still have players that have proven match winning pedigree and they will again be the team to beat in the World Cup.

England are priced up as the favourites on the back of the Ashes win, however there is no correlation between the formats and I feel the value definitely lies is siding with Australia for this series and therefore my suggested bets are:

In the series outright market:

BACK Australia to win for 5 points @ 2.14 at Betfair

In the series correct score market:

BACK Australia to win 5-2 for 3 points @ 7.20 at Betfair

BACK Australia to win 6-1 for 2 points @ 22.0 at Betfair

Bigjoe