General

Despite scoring 75 in the second innings in Perth, Ricky Ponting gave the rest of his team-mates a chance to catch him up in the leading Australia runscorer charts thanks to a rare failure in the first innings

Shane Warne may be dominating the headlines as his 700th Test wicket approaches, but those of you who followed the advice to back Stuart Clark to be Australia's top wicket-taker in the series will be quietly confident right now

The spotlight is on Alan Curbishley this weekend, whose first game is against the league leaders, Manchester United. His last game with Charlton was a 4-0 drubbing at United. Will he start his Upton Park reign against the Red Devils in similar fashion?

With arguably the most talented batting line-up in world cricket, India should be more than capable of winning the forthcoming three-Test series in South Africa. But they have an appalling record there and go into the first Test, starting on Friday, as ra

Perth used to be known as the fastest track in the world but in the last couple of years, things have changed a little, making it much more like Adelaide

West Ham can't win away and Manchester City haven't won at Old Trafford since 1974. Will this be the weekend where that all changes?

Records are there to be broken, and Spurs and West Ham will hope to do just that this weekend. It's six years since Spurs won a North London derby and the Hammers haven't won away from home since May. Will things change this weekend?

Those of you who followed the spreads advice before the start of the series are probably feeling pretty good about things right now

Australia have an excellent record at home down the years, but of the five grounds on the current Test rota, Adelaide might just offer England their best chance of success, statistically at least

West Indies may not have finished off the job in the second Test as it ended in a draw, but Brian Lara's side should be high on confidence and could be overpriced at 6/1 (7.00) to win the third and final match in the series, which starts on Monday

Will Charlton move off the bottom of the table with victory over Everton? Can Bolton overtake Arsenal in the table? Who will strike the first psychological blow in the race for the Premiership title when United lock horns with Chelsea?

Having regained the Ashes in typically ruthless style with victory in Perth on Monday, Australia have been slashed to just 9/10 (1.90) to go on and complete a 5-0 series whitewash by beating England in the two remaining Tests, in Melbourne and Sydney

Glenn McGrath has been one of the world's finest bowlers for more than a decade but the signs are that he could be in decline. StatsonSport take a look at what we can expect from "Pigeon" in this series

As you would expect for an Ashes series, Sporting Index have come up with more markets than you have the time to examine. From a batsman's series runs to player performance and their famous specials, they have just about everything covered

Just a few hours to go now until the start of the Ashes and Australia are holding steady at 4/9 (1.44) to win the first Test in Brisbane, while England remain 11/2 (6.50) and the draw is a 7/2 (4,50) chance

For those of you who like to bet on some of the more obscure markets or on the run totals, it is always worth looking back at the past Test history of the respective grounds to be used in a series

When it comes to the individual player markets in a Test series as the matches go by, there is rarely much value to be gleaned

When the bookies work out their markets for an individual batsman before the start of a five-match series, they usually set the top man at around 400-420

Three teams with desperate away records look to change their luck this weekend. Fulham can boast of one victory all season, whereas Liverpool and Spurs are yet to win on their travels. Will their away support be singing come the end of 90 minutes?

Matthew Hoggard was rewarded for a typically tireless display in Adelaide with a seven-wicket haul in the first innings and the Yorkshireman is now 4/7 (1.56) to come out on top as England's top series wicket-taker