It’s a short turnaround between the fourth and fifth Ashes Tests this week with the final installment of this thrilling series beginning on Thursday. The weekend saw a wet anti-climax play out in the most recent Ashes Test as England was held to a draw, primarily due to the weather, rather than Australia’s batting.
While this means that the Ashes is retained by Australia with a draw the best that England can manage, you can bet your bottom dollar both teams will be eager to win this final Test. For England, a win would reinforce the fact that they’ve taken the right approach in this series and will feel like they were unlucky not to win the Ashes. For Australia, they’ll want to go 3-1 up and prove that it was their own doing, not the rain, that is sending the Ashes back home with them.
With an enthralling contest on the cards, we break down the best bets to make on the Ashes 2023 with the latest odds from bookmaker William Hill.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: July 24th, 9:30 P.M. (GMT)
For the second Test in a row, England is a slight favourite to win in the outright betting odds at bookmaker William Hill. With odds of 2.37, they have their noses in front of Australia who sits at 2.75. A draw pays moderate odds of 2.75.
Top batting odds in the first innings go to Joe Root for England at 4.00 and Steve Smith for Australia at 3.75, while bowlers are England’s Mark Wood at 3.40 and Australia’s Pat Cummins at 3.00.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: July 24th, 9:30 P.M. (GMT)
Of all the Tests, this might be the hardest one to call. England is coming in off the back of their most dominant performance where they plundered just short of 600 runs and took 14 Australian wickets, all in the space of a few days. However, it’s also by far the most disappointing outcome of the series for England as well, given that it didn’t result in a win.
If there’s one thing that England does well at the moment, it’s manage team spirits. We say that the home side will come out firing here in the fifth Test and be motivated to level the series so they can go down in history as psychological winners of the Ashes 2023. With Zak Crawley and Harry Brooks both rounding into form nicely, we say 2.37 is a great bet for England to win.
Marnus Labuschagne could be an excellent wager to top Australia’s batting in the first innings as well. The young batter scored his first century of the season last Test and looked back to his usual best after an underwhelming series by his standards to date. Given Labuschagne’s record of backing up good performances, he’s a strong wager to make another big score this weekend.
