Captain Clarke to lead from the front in Ashes

Following a great weekend for British sport with the Lions defeating Australia and Andy Murray winning Wimbledon attention now shift to the Ashes. Here is our guide to the best of the bets from the series between England and Australia that gets underway Wednesday.

England will go into the Ashes in confident mood having won the last two series and if they were to win it would mark the first time since 77/79/81 that they have won three in a row. Bookmakers have them as the 2/5 (SKYBET/paddy Power) favourites for the series. The hosts are in good form having won eight of their last 12 home Test matches and it is this form that has seen them rise to second in the ICC Rankings.

Australia are fifth in the Rankings which is the lowest they have been for over twenty years. Darren Lehmann is th new coach and the man charged with turning around the fortunes. The former batsman will look to put an end to a run of form that has the Baggy Greens win just four of their last 11 Test series and recently saw them hammered 4-0 by India. The same India that England beat 2-1 in their own backyard. If you want to back Australia to win the series then you can do so at 9/2 (GENERAL). While for this to be the sixth Ashes series to finish drawn then you can get 15/2 (TOTESORT/betfred).

Ian Botham is so confident that England will win the series that he is predicting back-to-back clean sweeps. First this summer and then again in the winter when these two face-off again. No bookmakers has yet to price up the 10-0 victory though you can back England to win 5-0 this summer at 16/1 (SKYBET). You have to go back to 1977 for the last time Australia failed to win at least one game in the series and even then two of them ended drawn. The weather is also going to be a heavy factor in the correct score market with the unreliable English summer potentially playing havoc with days of action.

Bookmakers make England 3-1 the 6/1 (GENERAL) favourite which was the scoreline the last time these sides met. The last two series in this country have ended 2-1 to England and this can be backed at 9/1 (sportingbet). Those looking to back an Australia series victory can get Australia 2-1 at 14/1 (GENERAL) while the series to end in a 2-2 draw is a 10/1 (sportingbet) chance.

The top Australian batsman market is headed by Michael Clarke at 9/4 (SPORTINGBET) which looks generous odds. True the back of the Captain is a worry but Clarke has been the top Australian batsman in six of their last seven series. He has scored fourty plus in three of his four innings this summer and is the only Australian batsman to have scored more than one Test century since the start of 2012. Take Clarke then at 6/1 (SPORTINGBET/BETVICTOR).

The market for top England batsman is headed by Alastair Cook at 3/1 (BETVICTOR/888 SPORT/CORAL) and the Captain is ranked among the top ten batsman in the World. As is Trott and he can be backed at 7/2 (GENERAL) while the returing Kevin Pietersen is 4/2 (SKYBET). I am keen to side with Marr Prior who has been top England batsman in two of the last four series (NZ away, South Africa home) and is a generous 16/1 (SPREADEX).

BEST OF THE BETS

GOLD: Michael Clarke to be top Australian batsman, 9/4 (SPORTINGBET)
SILVER: Michael Clarke to be top Seriesbatsman, 6/1 (SPORTINGBET/BETVICTOR)
BRONZE: Matt Prior to be top England batsman, 16/1 (SPREADEX)

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12/07/2013     © Frixo 2026