Australia may be decent value

Pakistan were thoroughly outplayed by Australia in the first Test and on the face of it, have little chance of levelling the series by winning the second match, which begins at the SCG on Sunday.

The Pakistan team remains full of talent and the return to fitness - a last-minute test notwithstanding - of Danish Kaneria will offer them more control and more experience on a pitch that traditionally offers something for the spinners.

Australia are not the all-powerful dominant force they were a few years ago and their bowling remais a little suspect, but having said all that, they are still big favourites and it's something of a surprise that bet365 make them as big as 8/13 to win the match, compared to 5/1 on a Pakistan win and 9/4 on the draw.

Kaneria will have happy memories of his last appearance at the SCG when he took 8-204 but it is still asking an awful lot for them to put everything together and actually beat Australia in a Test, especially in Australia. It's six years since they last lost at the SCG, although Pakistan did manage a win there in 1995.

Recent rain may pep up the SCG pitch, which will help Pakistan's seamers, but they will need more help from their fielders than they got in the first Test, when they squandered several chances and let Australia get away.

As usual, Ricky Ponting is favourite to be his side's top runscorer in the first innings, at 10/3, with Shane Watson and Simon Katich both 7/2. Phil Hughes, who could come into the side if Katich's troublesome elbow does not improve, is 4/1, while Michael Clarke is 9/2, Michael Hussey is 11/2 and Marcus North is 9/1.

It goes without saying that Pakistan's batsmen need to fire if they are to have a chance, and Mohammad Yousuf is the obvious favourite at 13/5 to come out on top. Salman Butt is 4/1, just ahead of Umar Akmal at 5/1, the same price as Imran Farhat. Faisal Iqbal and Khurram Manzoor are both 6/1, with Shoaib Malik and Misbah-ul-Haq are each 13/2.

I have a lot of time for Pakistan and they have an enormous talent base but it's a question of putting it all together under pressure and at the moment, picking when that will happen is far from easy and it's a lot more likely that Australia will win it, making 8/13 a decent price.