Australia remain favourites in long-range World Cup forecast

The Champions Trophy may be little more than a month away, but already the bookmakers at Bet365 are setting their sights a little further afield … to the 2019 English summer, and the return of the ICC Cricket World Cup.

Who knows how the odds may shift once the Champions Trophy has been wrapped up - the 2019 competition, remember, will be played in the same country and at a similar time of year, so the results of this mini-World Cup could be hugely instructive.

And while England remain the favourites to lift the trophy this time around, it is always hard to look beyond Australia when the main event comes around. They've won four of the last five events, including 1999, when the competition was last staged in England; they've reached the final in five of the last six, and they've lifted the trophy on five occasions overall - more than twice as many times as West Indies and India, their nearest challengers with two apiece.

At 3/1, Australia lead the field with just over two years to go until the first ball is bowled, with South Africa - perennial contenders but … ahem … a tendency to go missing in the crunch moments, nestled in behind them at 4/1. India, winners in 2011, are next in line at 9/2, with England tucked into the middle of the field at 11/2.

Those odds are probably justified given how woeful their record has been at World Cups since reaching the final in 1992, but times have been a-changing at the ECB, and no-one's in any doubt how determined they are to transform their reputation in white-ball cricket.

Further down the field, there are the rank outsiders, Canada and USA, who are a Leicester-esque 5000/1 to pull off the surprise of a lifetime. Don't be ridiculous, is the only response to those odds. However, if you are in the mood to back a dark horse, you could do worse than take a look at Bangladesh at 50/1.

Like Sri Lanka in 1996, Bangladesh have been steadily improving in recent years after a decade and more of being cricket's whipping boys, and let's not forget, they've beaten England in each of the last two tournaments. If they can make it once again to the knockouts, who knows how far they can go.