Australia going for the kill

Australia have recovered well from the loss of the opening one-dayer and are now in command, leading the five-game series 2-1 with two matches to play

Simon Cambers

01-Mar-2010

Ross Taylor's fitness will be vital if New Zealand are to pull off a shock win  •  Getty Images

Australia have recovered well from the loss of the opening one-dayer and are now in command, leading the five-game series 2-1 with two matches to play.

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The Aussies are now pretty unbackable at 1/16 to win the series while it's 8/1 that the New Zealanders win both the remaining matches to steal the series win. It really is unlikely that will happen.

Bet365 make New Zealand, who hope to have Ross Taylor, James Franklin and Daryl Tuffey back from injury for Thursday's game, 9/4 to win the fourth match, while you can only get 4/11 on the ruthless Aussies clinching victory at the first time of asking.

You can never write off the New Zealand team, especially in one-day cricket, where they consistently perform above themselves, but it's asking an awful lot for them to bounce back and then go on to pinch a decider.

Taylor is 3/1 favourite to top-score for his side, just ahead of Brendon McCullum at 7/2. Martin Guptill is 4/1, Peter Ingram 5/1 and Scott Styris 11/2, while captain Daniel Vettori is never out of the reckoning and decent value at 10/1.

Australia captain Ricky Ponting and Shane Watson are each 10/3 co-favourites to top-score for the tourists. Brad Haddin is 7/2 and then there's a big gap to Michael Hussey and Cameron White at 11/2.

Original series preview
New Zealand may have the home advantage but Australia have the form and the pedigree going into a five-match one-day international series, starting on Wednesday.

The Aussies go into the series on the back of whopping wins over West Indies and Pakistan and should be full of confidence that they can get another big win under their belts against New Zealand.
The hosts are never an easy side to beat and as we always say, consistently fight above their weight as a lot more than the sum of their parts, but Australia are in great form and that has prompted bet365 to make them 1/4 to win it, compared to New Zealand's 3/1.
Australia's record in one-dayers in the past 15 years is little short of sensational. Not only have they won the past three World Cups - an amazing feat in itself - when a series consists of five or more matches, they have lost just three series since 1994/5. All three of those defeats were to South Africa, two of them coming last year.
Since then, it has been onwards and upwards for Australia, who appear to have rediscovered their one-day supremacy and who fully merit their favouritism in the series. Bet365 make them only 11/4 to win the series 5-0, while a 4-1 win is the absolute favourite, at 7/4.
It's 5/2 that the Aussies win it by the odd game, 3-2, while New Zealand are 5/1 to win by the same scoreline; 18/1 to win it 4-1 and a massive 66/1 to whitewash the Australians.
New Zealand, on the other hand, will draw on their 3-0 win in a three-match series back in 2007, but it will take something special for them to come out on top.
Top bats
If they are to win the series, they will need everyone to be firing on all cylinders and that means their batsmen all performing. Brendan McCullum, who can be one of the most destructive batsmen in world cricket, is favourite at 11/4 to be his side's top runscorer at the end of the series.
The talented Ross Taylor is next at 3/1, just ahead of Martin Guptill at 4/1. Peter Ingram is 5/1 and then there is a big gap to Scott Styris at 10/1, the same price as Jacob Oram, with captain Daniel Vettori at 12/1.
For the Aussies, opener Shane Watson is favourite at 13/5 while captain Ricky Ponting, who may take a little time to get going, having missed the two Twenty20s, is 3/1. Brad Haddin is 10/3 while Michael Clarke is 5/1, with Cameron White 6/1 and Michael Hussey a 7/1 chance.
Ponting has been in the top three in all three of their most recent overseas one-day international series, while Watson and Hussey have been in the top three twice.
New Zealand will fight hard, as always, with Vettori an excellent captain, but they just are not good enough to beat the Aussies if the tourists play to their potential and a whitewash is not beyond the realms of possibility, even if a 4-1 win is most likely.
Please note that odds are correct at time of publication and are subject to change.

Simon Cambers is Cricinfo's betting correspondent