Australia lengthen in the World Cup betting after losing Hussey

Australia have joined England at 5/1 to win the Cricket World Cup despite being ranked the world’s number one one-day international team.

Before their 6-1 demolition of England Australian cricket was in crisis having just lost the Ashes rather emphatically to their arch rivals, but Michael Clarke’s side were available at 4/1 to win the Cricket World Cup.

Despite showing their ODI class in the rout of England – they have subsequently overtaken India as the world’s number one ODI team – Australia are on the drift in the World Cup betting.

Ricky Ponting will return to captain the side in the World Cup, but with market confidence disappearing, Ponting was dealt a further blow when Michael Hussey and Nathan Hauritz were ruled out of the World Cup due to injuries.

Hussey featured in the opening ODI with England but hasn’t featured since and Hauritz only featured in the second ODI in which he failed to take a wicket and managed just two runs with the bat.

While Hauritz will be easily replaced, Hussey averages 51.96 in ODIs and will be missed by the Australian team.

While one Hussey will be missed, the other, David, will be an integral part of Australia’s World Cup challenge and only Shane Watson (61.20) averaged more than David (47.20) in the ODI series with England.

David Hussey is 8/1 to be Australia’s leading scorer in the World Cup and he is definitely the value in the betting market which Shane Watson heads at 11/4.

Hussy is also a massive 80/1 to be the tournament’s top runscorer and should Australia play to their world number one status, Hussey should have plenty of games in which to score plenty of runs.

A £25 stake on Australia winning the World Cup would return £150. New customers can sign up here for a free cricket World Cup bet worth £25.