The Gabba, Brisbane is the venue for the first Ashes test match between Australia and England England, the game gets under way on Wednesday and we take a look at the form and a number of options available to punters.
The Ashes will be decided over the course of 5 test matches and we begin with the teams news.
Pat Cummins is the skipper and Australia named their starting XI at the weekend.
Australia: David Warner, Marcus Harris, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood
With the exception of Jofra Archer England have a full strength squad to select from.
England - Joe Root (Captain), Ben Stokes, James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Dom Bess, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Haseeb Hameed, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Dawid Malan, Craig Overton, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
Recent Form:
Australia's last test match action started almost 12 months ago when they hosted India. They won the first test comfortably but lost 2 and drew 1 of the next 3 to lose the series 2-1.
England also hosted India in August / September this year, they lost a 4 match series 2-1 (5th test was cancelled). Prior to that they lost a 2 match series at home to New Zealand (1-0).
Recent Ashes Series
In England in 2019 a 5 match series was drawn 2-2 and Australia retained the urn.
In Australia in 2017/18 England lost 4-0 (1 draw)
The Venue, Gabba, Brisbane
In January this year Australia lost to India by 3 wickets at this venue but prior to that they had reeled off 7 successive test match victories in Brisbane including wins over England in 2013 (381 runs) and 2017 (10 wickets).
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Australia are 1 / 3 to win the series with a tie at 13/2 and England are a 4/1 chance
A 5-0 clean sweep for Australia is priced at 6/1 an it's 1.75/1 for England to win any match.
Pat Cummins is 7/2 favourite in the top series wicket taker market and Steve Smith is 5/2 to be top series run scorer with Joe Root a 7/2 chance.
Note all prices are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
1st Test Betting
Australia are 11/10 to win the first test with a draw at 15/10 and England are a 4/1 chance
The Verdict
Although they have been absent from the 5 day format for some time I fancy Australia to put an early marker down and win the first test whilst Oliie Robinson is my choice to be top England bowler in the first innings.
Outside of that I will go with Jos Buttler to beat his 1st innings runs quote of 20.5 and Josh Hazlewood to take 3 wickets or more, aagin in the first innings.
Bets: Australia to win the first test at 11/10
Top England 1st innings bowler Ollie Robinson at 3/1
Jos Buttler 1st innings runs over 20.5 at 17/20
Josh Hazlewood 1st innings wickets over 2.5 at 11/10
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Note all prices are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
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