Cook and Strauss sit comfortably as England enter second day 29-0
Published:England may have never secured the urn before Christmas in Ashes history, but the first day performance by England’s bowling attack has put them in a prominent position to win.
Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook ended the day on a comfortable 29 runs, 12 and 17 respectively, and England are now the 4/7 favourites to win the third Test.
Cook took charge in the twelve overs the England openers faced knocking 17 runs off 31 balls compared to Strauss’ 12 from 41, and Cook looks set to continue his incredible scoring form and go on to make a century.
However the Perth wicket is not designed for batters and England haven’t scored more than 350 on the wicket in five Tests.
Although when England last won the Ashes on Australian soil on the 1986/87 tour, England declared at the WACA in both innings, scoring 592 and 199, and the England batsman are 5/6 to go on and score over 415.5 runs.
With Cook in such tremendous nick, Strauss is available at 5/6 to be the next man out and looks a that looks a decent bet, but next dismissal method is a little harder to predict with Strauss having been bowled, stumped and caught so far in this series.
At 2/5 caught is the favourite for next dismissal method and considering the WACA wicket, that seems about right.
But Ben Hilfenhaus managed to get the ball swinging a lot in his short spell and at 5/1, bowled offers plenty of value for the next dismissal method.
Hilfenhaus is 3/1 to be Australia’s top first innings wicket taker and Ponting will hope his attack can fire as well as the English attack did.
It seems this WACA wicket is set-up for a result so punters can rule out the draw.
A £10 stake on England winning the series 4-0 would return £65. New customers can sign up here for a free £10 bet.
