The NatWest Cricket Series England vs Australia At The Rose Bowl is just around the corner! The old rivals meet at Southampton’s Rose Bowl on Tuesday, 22 June 2010 at 2:30pm for the first of five matches. Can we trust England in the limited-overs format or will Australia repeat their stroll of a year ago?
The Rose Bowl are hosting the NatWest One Day International Cricket Series. For tickets to the event, click on The Rose Bowl.
Ed Hawkins analyses game one:
Team News
England’s genesis as a one-day team to take seriously began when they recognised that opening batsmen need to be able to hit the ball over the top and for the second time we will see a partnership which might just have it all: Andrew Strauss, the skipper, and Craig Kieswetter could complement one another perfectly.
Ajmal Shahzad, Stuart Broad and James Anderson make up the pace bowling unit while the selectors must decide whether to go with Michael Yardy or Tim Bresnan as the auxiliary allrounder. Yardy was pencilled into bat at No 6 in the victory over Scotland and one wonders whether Ian Bell might come into the reckoning as an extra batsman.
Australia’s strength was emphasised in the warm-up against Middlesex. Struggling at 64-4, Cameron White and Mike Hussey put on their overalls and got their hands dirty in the engine room. White made 106 and Hussey 72.
Their one selection question is: James Hopes, the allrounder, or Steve Smith, the legspinner who can bat a bit? Hopes took five wickets against Ireland and should probably get the nod given that Nathan Hauritz is first-choice spinner.
Venue and conditions
The average first-innings score at the Rose Bowl is 238 in the last eight (there was one washout and we have not included Australia’s beating of the USA). It highlights the venue’s reputation as one which gives assistance to bowlers in a format which has too often been dominated by the bat.
That said, one would not shy away from backing Australia for 275 or more at around the 1.85 mark if they were to bat first. Australia have won both of their matches there while England have two victories from four.
Match odds
With the game under lights the natural reaction is to wonder whether it would be best to blindly back the side batting first. There is no evidence that it is particularly tricky to bat last under the beam at the Rose Bowl – a study period of two wins by ‘runs’ in three is far too sleight.
Certainly both sides are set up to make the most of any movement. Doug Bollinger, Ryan Harris and Clint McKay can make it bend while James Anderson and Ajmal Shahzad will need it to.
As stated in the series preview, there does not appear to be much to choose between the sides. Australia, statistically, have the superior batting line-up over the last 12 months, but a shortage of games does not take into account the brilliance of Paul Collingwood and Eoin Morgan. Kevin Pietersen, who should bat at No 3, redresses the balance, too now he has overcome his injury problems.
The hosts therefore get the nod at 2.28, with Australia too skinny at 1.76. England have confidence coursing through their veins as a one-day unit following their unexpected World Twenty20 title while Australia, hammered in the final of that tournament, don’t have the “firepower” of old. Not my words, but Owais Shah’s who faced them for Middlesex last week.
Top Batsman
White has to get the nod for Australia. In three List A matches at the Rose Bowl, White averages 61. His century for Australia there last year inspired Australia to six-wicket win in a series they dominated, albeit because England were still celebrating Ashes glory.
White will go off at around the 6.50 mark with Ricky Ponting and opener Shane Watson taking up a large percentage of the book.
For England, Strauss top-scored the last time the sides met at the venue and although he is fancied to go well again, Morgan in the middle order is continually underrated. If you can get north of 6.50, take it.
Featured Market
The highest individual score parameter is set at over/under 82.5 runs. With three centuries in each of the last three games, the formbook says the only way is up.”
Ed Hawkins says: “Back C White for top Australia bat at 6.50 or bigger”
Source: England v Australia Betfair Preview
If you are looking for hot betting tips on various sporting events like Horse Racing, Greyhound Racing and even Football, be sure to take a short few seconds to sign up to BetFan’s daily newsletter which is filled with hot free sports betting tips. Once signed up to the free newsletter, you will receive these tips straight to your email inbox for absolutely nothing, simply sign up by clicking on Free Betting Tips Newsletter from BetFan.
On the Betfair Betting Exchange site, where you can generally get 20% better odds than most anywhere else, you can bet on the NatWest Cricket Series England vs Australia At The Rose Bowl, placing a bet on England to WIN @ odds 2.24 (5/4), or a bet on Australia to WIN @ odds 1.77 (4/5) so be sure to snap up the bet with Betfair as soon as possible.
Make every day a winner! 
Bet Fanatic
Expedkt - £25 FREE MATCHED BET
Paddy Power - £10 Free Bet
This is just the sort of info I was looking for! Thanks
Interesting read, thanks! I finally see the larger picture
Great read. Thanks for the info!
Thanks for the info. You did a good job communicating your message. Keep up the great job.
loved the post.
Heya, just wanted to thank you for the great post, I’m looking forward to your next one
May I link to your post?
Of course, but please do put up a link back on your end.
Hey, very nice website. I actually came across this on Google, and I am really happy I did. I will definately be coming back here more often. Wish I could add to the conversation and bring a bit more to the table, but am just absorbing as much info as I can at the moment.
Thank You
Been looking for this article for long time ago and finally found here. thanks for sharing this post. appreciate!
Thank you for your assist!
Thanks for some great points there. I am kind of new to web surfing, so I printed this off to put in my file, any better way to go about keeping track of it than printing?
I can’t belive that you share this! Awesome. With no webmasters like you, we would by no means get such superb information
this post is genuinely the best on this worth while topic. I fit in with your conclusions and will eagerly look forward to your coming updates. Just saying thanks will not just be enough, for the amazing clarity with your writing. Will grab your rss feed to stay privy of any updates. I wish you much success inside your company!
Hey, I think your mostly on track with this, I won’t say I totally agree , but its not really that much of a deal.
Thanks a million for this, I am greatful for the info
I can’t figure out how to subscribe to the comments via feedburner. I want to keep up to date on this, how do I do that? Cheers anyway guys for the fab info.
Just checking out your article on my brand new Google Phone , and I wanted to see if it would let me reply or if it made me go to a pc to do that. Ill check back later to see if it worked.
Well I found this on Digg, and I like it so I dugg it!