Our cricket expert shares betting tips for the second test of The Ashes series in Lord’s Cricket Ground. England will look to level the series after losing out in a thrilling first test.
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England vs Australia (Wednesday 10:00 UTC)
One of international cricket’s famous bouts will continue with The Ashes second Test, between opposing hemisphere rivals England and Australia. A two-wicket victory at Edgbaston, Birmingham last week, saw the Aussies heading to Lord’s leading 1-0 after a decisive first test.
Captain Cummins was full of praise for man of the match Usman Khawaja, saying he had “Incredible composure, he played his own method, didn’t get caught up. I’m really happy for him.” The cricketer was eventually bowled by England skipper Ben Stokes at 65. This, along with Joe Root removing Alex Carey with a caught-and-bowled opportunity, allowed England to be on the precipice of victory.
However, the match continued into the final session and day, with the Aussies pursuing a target of 281. Mainly due to the unbeaten partnership of 55 runs for the ninth wicket by Aussie duo Nathan Lyon and Pat Cummins. The latter landed the coup de grâce helped on by a fumble from Harry Brook, finishing off any Anglo chances for the day.
The match came to be the second-highest successful victory chase at Edgbaston, allowing Australia to atone for the agonising loss to England at the same venue in 2005, where they fell three short of running down 282. The Blue and Whites will appropriately view last week’s match as ultimately a missed opportunity.
McCullum has been put into a selection spin with the injury to Moeen Ali’s finger still a concern he has surprisingly turned to young spinner Reham Ahmed to bolster the squad just in case ahead of the much fancied Will Jacks from Surrey seemingly being the front runner. However, England could play only Root as their only spinner and have four seamers to make sure they don’t risk a fine for slow over rates again.
England’s batsmen need to find their groove and quickly to even stand a chance in this series. Only Root has shown glimmers of batting brilliance in the first test, but the openers just aren’t firing at all with only Crawley and Duckett scores combined not even reaching 100 in the first test and Stokes not firing at all… bring on Baz Ball!
An era of Australian dominance could well come to an end with the English showing they can hold their own after a thrilling first Test. However, there are many summer days on the green yet to come and it will take a consistent effort from England to beat the World Test champions.
1×2 2.57, 5.46, 2.11
**Odds are subject to change. Odds accurate as of 12:00 UTC Tuesday 27th June**
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