Sports Blog 02/09/2015: Cricket Preview – England vs Australia 1st ODI, Thursday 3rd September 2015

Since their truly dismal end to the Cricket World Cup in March, England have had a pretty impressive summer. Can that continue with their latest one day series against Australia?

A drawn test series against the West Indies across April and May and a victorious ODI series against New Zealand in June were just tasters for what was to be the defining moment for English cricket in 2015; a thrilling Ashes win over Australia that saw a more than a few instants of breath-taking skill. It went some way in making up for their group stage exit at the World Cup, with England taking 3 of the 5 tests, with the first morning of the 4th test one of the greatest moments in England’s cricketing history.



England then followed this up by beating Australia in a Twenty20 international on bank holiday Monday, with another star showing from Ben Stokes (who got a career best bowling performance in that dramatic 4th Ashes test) in the final over which saw the Durham all-rounder concede a mere 6 runs when the Aussies only needed 12 to win. That impressive turn has left Stokes with the best Player Performance spread of either side going into the first ODI, at 54-59 where a player receives 1 point per run, 10 points per catch, 20 points per wicket and 25 points per stumping.

Interestingly two of the other major stars of that triumphant Ashes side, Joe Root and Stuart Broad, are absent for this 5 match ODI series, arguably both being rested for the winter Tests against Pakistan and South Africa. However England will have captain Eoin Morgan, fantastic in that ODI series against New Zealand and at a Player Performance spread of 37-42, alongside Moeen Ali (at a spread of 50-55) and vice-captain Joe Buttler (at a spread of 44-49).



Yet the Ashes wasn’t a whitewash, and the 2015 Cricket World Cup champions will put up an imposing challenge in this ODI series as they try and ensure they don’t end their English tour completely empty handed. Steve Smith, who arguably lost the title of best batsman in the world to Joe Root over the summer, will be wanting to try prove there was some truth to his pre-Ashes proclamation that England wouldn’t ‘come close’ to Australia in the series, and is 11/4 favourite to be the Aussies’ top run-scorer in the first ODI. England should also watch out for Glenn Maxwell, Australia’s second highest run-scorer after Smith at the World Cup, and only just behind Ben Stokes with a Player Performance spread of 53-58.



Despite England super summer, our Spreadex traders still fancy the Aussies for both the first match and the series as a whole. Australia have a Win Index spread of 43-46 to England’s 29-32, where a team gets 10 points for a win, share points for a draw or no results and 25 points for a series win; they also have a Supremacy spread over England of 5-15 for the 1st ODI and a spread of 5-8 for the series as a whole.

And all of this is perhaps understandable; 5 times champions at the World Cup, including this year’s aforementioned victory, feasibly makes Australia the best ODI side of all-time, and add in their need for an ego-soothing win and England have a tough test ahead of them.