These five talking points and tips can help you build your #BetYourWay for the first Ashes Test match at Headingley on Thursday.
Create your own bet for every Ashes match with #BetYourWay. Simply tweet us your request @betway using the hashtag #BetYourWay, and we’ll get it priced up before the first ball is bowled.
Here are Adam Drury‘s cricket betting tips for the third Ashes Test, which starts at 11:00am on Thursday.
Stuart Broad going under the radar
Jofra Archer’s dramatic Lord’s debut has resulted in other analysis of England’s performance, good or bad, being shelved.
That does a disservice to Broad, who outbowled Archer with figures of 4-65 in the first innings to continue his best run of form for years.
The 33-year-old has taken 17 wickets in three Test matches so far this summer, more than he has managed in three consecutive games since November 2013.
His probing lengths, and role as leader of the bowling attack in the absence of Jimmy Anderson, should ensure another decent week at Headingley.
Stuart Broad to take over 2.5 first innings wickets {ODDS:458632534:1/1}
Joe Root’s decline
From returning to action too soon against Ireland to bumping himself up to No. 3 for the Ashes, Root hasn’t made things easy for himself in the Test match section of this summer.
The effect has been a further waning of powers for a player who used to be such a banker in England’s middle order.
The skipper has averaged just 22 in Test matches this summer and 32.5 since the beginning of the 2018 season.
Some issues can be traced back even further. Between 2012-15, he averaged 68.66 to balls hitting the stumps. Since 2016, that average has fallen to 15.28.
It is worth backing his slump to continue at Headingley, where he averages 27.62 in five matches since 2014.
Joe Root to score under 31.5 runs {ODDS:459002275:5/6}
Joe Denly is consistent at least
By contrast, Joe Denly is finding his feet at Test match level.
The 33-year-old is no world-beater – you can’t imagine him in the team in 12-18 months’ time – but contributions of 30 and 26 were crucial in getting his side out of trouble in both innings at Lord’s.
Denly has reached double figures in all of his last nine Test innings, passing 20 five times and once reaching a half-century.
They are underwhelming numbers, but enough to back him to pass a low runs line in the first innings this week.
Joe Denly to score over 22.5 first innings runs {ODDS:459002206:5/6}
Overall, England still can’t bat
After Root (48.69), Jonny Bairstow’s average of 35.85 is the best in the England team, a damning statistic that is reflected in their efforts as a collective.
England have hit 400+ in just two of their last 38 innings, with both of those efforts featuring Alastair Cook hundreds.
They average 253.6 since their record run-scorer retired at the end of last summer, with two of the three players at the top of the list of averages since then – Ben Foakes and Keaton Jennings – no longer in the side.
How can you have confidence in that run improving at Headingley?
England to score under 300.5 first innings runs {ODDS:459068341:8/11}
Who needs Steve Smith?
Labuschagne batted well enough in the second innings at Lord’s to believe that Australia may not feel the absence of Steve Smith as much as was anticipated.
The 25-year-old’s run-scoring ability was not in question. He is miles clear at the top of the County Championship Division 2 charts, having hit five hundreds for Glamorgan already this summer.
But after recovering from being badly hit by the second ball he faced from Jofra Archer last week, he also passed a test of his temperament and his 59 helped Australia save the game.
He can continue to imitate Smith by scoring big runs this week.
Marnus Labuschagne to score a first-innings century {ODDS:458627285:10/1}
Visit Betway’s cricket betting page.
