After a historic win at Edgbaston in the First Test last week, the Aussie’s will be heading into the home of cricket with a fair bit of confidence and honestly can you blame them?
After months of hype & speculation the First Test absolutely lived up to the hype, both these Test sides are firing on all cylinders and I cannot wait for another five days of Ashes Cricket.
It looks like there may be a bit of rain around for Day 2 but other than that, it’s clear skies in London – we should be getting a result!
I’ve run my (somewhat) Australian biased eyes over the scorecards & stats and reckon I’ve found a bit value in the betting markets.
Here is my preview of the 2nd Ashes Test at Lords
My Predicted Australia XI
- D. Warner
- U. Kwahaja
- M. Labuschagne
- S. Smith
- T. Head
- C. Green
- A. Carey (WK)
- P. Cummins (C)
- M. Starc
- N. Lyon
- S. Boland
I think it would be tempting for Australia to name an unchanged side but it’s a long series and even though the conditions should suit Hazelwood better than Mitchell Starc. I think we should be easing Hazelwood back into a full workload.
Starc’s extra pace and aggression was sorely missed in the First Test and there were certainly patches of England’s innings where a spell of short, aggressive bowling would’ve gone a long way towards putting England back in their box.
I also don’t believe that Scott Boland and Josh Hazelwood should ever be picked in the same XI.
Their bowling styles are too similar and if the English batsmen get used to right-arm, 4th and 5th stump line – we could find ourselves in a bit of a hole.
Mitchell Starc is in my XI but I also wouldn’t be surprised to see an unchanged team.
Result Markets
As mentioned above, the forecast looks good for cricket fans!
There is potentially a bit of rain about on Day 2 but other than that, we should see a lot of play at Lords.
The home of cricket has been a great ground for Australia in the last 100 odd years. Australia have only lost two Tests at Lords since 1934 (2009 & 2013).
The visitors boast a record of 17 wins, 7 losses and 15 draws at Lords and at the time of writing are $2.10 favourites to win.
Backing an Australia/ Draw double chance is also crazy short at $1.53 which suggest the bookies like Australia’s chances and to the surprise of no one, so do I.
Like I said in the First Test Preview, if you’re here for England markets, you probably should just exit out.
Back Australia H2H @ $2.10
Player Runs Markets
Usman Khawaja stood up in a big way for us in the First Test (as did Pat Cummins) while the usual suspects Labuschagne & Smith got out cheaply.
Marnus seems to be playing with a bit of arrogance at the moment and his golden duck vs Stuart Broad should have humbled him.
He’s too good of a player to be out of the runs forever and I will be having a play on both his over 29.5 1st Innings Runs market & Marnus to score a 1st Innings 50 @ $2.75.
It’s not his greatest ground in England, but Steve Smith averages 54.42 at Lords in 4 Tests, Smithers is another bloke that seems to have knuckled down and should improve from the 16 & 6 he scored at Edgbaston.
Smith is $3.75 to score a 1st Innings 100 which seems too short for my liking, I’m with him for a 50 @ $2.10 and then I will be putting my feet up and cheering him on for triple figures just as a fan.
Harry Brook is a human being I’ve decided I thoroughly dislike but credit to him, he looked very threatening in patches against our bowling attack.
I like him for top 1st Innings English Runscorer at $6
Back Marnus Labuschagne over 29.5 1st Innings Runs @ $1.83
Back Marnus Labuschagne to score a 1st Innings 50 @ $2.75
Back Steve Smith to score a 1st Innings 50 @ $2.10
Back Harry Brook Top 1st Innings English Runscorer @ $6
Player Wicket Markets
Boland/Hazelwood/Starc are player markets I’m avoiding for now only because we don’t know who will be selected.
Nathan Lyon is a player we all know will be on the team sheet and he is who I’m looking at having a flirt on.
Garry doesn’t have the greatest of records at Lords. Just 6 wickets in two games at an average of 41.66 but this is the GOAT’s 100th consecutive Test match for Australia and I expect him to turn it on for the milestone.
I like Lyon for over 2.5 1st innings wickets at $2.38
I’m also going to back Ollie Robinson under 2.5 1st Innings Wickets at $1.83 purely for the meme.
Back Nathan Lyon Over 2.5 1st innings wickets @ $2.38
Ollie Robinson Under 2.5 1st Innings Wickets @ $1.83