England’s hopes of Ashes miracle paying 19/1
England has slumped to 0-2 in the Ashes, following another sub-par performance in Brisbane, with the travelling team showing more fight, but ultimately falling well short of Australia, in a match that finished on Sunday.
Major UK betting sites acted accordingly and priced England at 19/1 to win the Ashes, with it now requiring a minor miracle — three successive wins on Australian soil.
A drawn series will not be good enough for Ben Stokes’ troops, with the Aussies the current Ashes holders, following the drawn series in England in 2023.
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For Stokes, who dug in for a hard-fought 50 off 152 balls in England’s second innings, the sub-par beginning to the Ashes is a bitter pill to swallow, having declared his team had been preparing for this series for two years.
“There’s a saying that was said a lot here in this dressing room – Australia isn’t for weak men – but a dressing room that I’m captain of isn’t a place for weak men either,” Stokes said in the aftermath.
“We need to dig deep, I need to dig deep and I need to get this team in a place where we do go out there and we are seriously switched on and understand where we are.
“We are one team, but we are made up of 11 players. If I feel like it’s something that is constantly happening, then I need to address it.”
England’s performance in the two matches of the five match series have been highlighted by poor shot selection from the batsmen under their “Bazball” philosophy, while their bowling has been inconsistent and poorly executed.
Australia has now shorted into 6/4 to win the series 5-0 with these odds unthinkable just under a month ago, with many tipping England to win their first series in Australia since the 2010-11 Ashes.
Now their top-order is set for a major review with opener Ben Duckett failing this series, while the supremely talented, but overly aggressive Ollie Pope has also struggled against the Aussies.
England will also seriously consider resting fit-again paceman Jofra Archer, who has bowled well in patches, but has not reached the devastating highs of the 2023 series.
The third Ashes Test is due to start on December 17 with it set to be played with the red ball, a welcome change for England, with some of their bats facing the pink ball in Brisbane for the first time under match conditions.
