Australians in crisis as shouts for Warney to return get louder

Desperate times call for desperate measures and shouts for Shane Warne to return to the Australia team are getting louder.

England will be enjoying this, the pressure is mounting on Ricky Ponting as the Australian captain stares down the barrel of defeat and Andrew Strauss’s side are looking strong at 2/5 to win the Ashes.

For the first time in living memory Australia will enter a home Test match with England as the underdogs (7/4 to beat England), and the betting market reflects just how badly the Australian team are suffering at the moment.

England favourites for a Test match in Australia is not a term we are likely to hear too often, but considering the form of both sides, the 6/4 for England to win the third Test looks the pick of the market.

Ponting would be the first Australian captain to ever lose three Ashes series and with that in mind he would do anything to salvage this series, meaning the 12/1 on offer for Shane Warne to make a sensational return to the team looks decent value.

Ever the politician, Warne has not publically denied that he would return to the Test team, but in a column he writes for the Telegraph, he has suggested that maybe Perth spinner Michael Beere would be the better option.

With Xavier Doherty struggling to live up to expectations, it seems Nathan Hauritz will enter the fray for the third Test in Perth, but the Australian fans as clamouring for a Warney return.

But the Perth wicket should offer a little more for the fast bowlers and Ryan Harris was by far the most impressive of the Aussie seamers in Adelaide, and he is 4/1 to be Australia’s top series wicket-taker.

A £10 stake on Shane Warne making a century in Perth would return £2,510. New customers can sign up here for a free £10 bet.