Australia remain in World Cup reckoning despite desperate ODI form

Never write off the Australians? That's the message from the Bet365 long-range forecasters. As the focus begins to narrow on next year's World Cup in England, the reigning champions remain a miserly 5/1 bet to make it an unprecedented six titles, including five wins out of six dating back to 1999.

Nothing could feel further from becoming reality right at this moment, however. Australia slumped to an unprecedented seventh ODI defeat in a row against South Africa in Perth at the weekend, despite having plastered their walls with placards proclaiming their "elite honesty" - a curious attempt to galvanise team spirit in the wake of the ball-tampering scandal.

On the plus side, Australia will once again have the services of David Warner and Steven Smith come the World Cup, which may contribute to a raising of their overall standards.

But they remain a long way off the pace in the build-up to the competition. That is still being set by the stand-out favourites, England and India, who are both 11/4 following their recent successes against Sri Lanka and West Indies respectively. South Africa (7/1) just sneak in ahead of New Zealand (9/1) as the bookie's favourites to make up the final semi-final slot.