Australia still solid favourites

If things weren't already in Australia's favour going into Thursday's second Test, then Michael Vaughan getting hit on the elbow in the nets just increased their chances of taking a 2-0 lead in the five-match Ashes series.

Having been steady at 8/11 (1.72) for a few days, Ricky Ponting's team have now been cut to 4/6 (1.66) favourites with bet365. England remain 9/2 (5.50) but the draw has also been lengthened from 2/1 (3.00) to 49/20 (3.45).

Vaughan's elbow was not fractured in the incident and he will play, but it is still a big blow to England's hopes even if the captain had been in a bit of a rut with the bat until his century for Yorkshire at the weekend. While Australia after a slow start to the tour all of a sudden look a well-drilled, close-knit unit, some of England's players have been bristling at criticism from the media - the classic sign of a lack of concentration on what really matters, the cricket.

England haven't been victorious in an Ashes series since Mike Gatting's men won 3-1 Down Under in 1986/7, but they can take some solace from the fact that they thrashed Australia there in 1997. However, that was the opening Test and they caught the tourists cold whereas in 2001 they were hammered by Steve Waugh's men and the former skipper had a few things to say about the events at Lord's last week in the weekend's papers. With the exception of Kevin Pietersen, he said, England's batsmen appeared not to have any kind of plan against Shane Warne and anyone who watched the match would find it hard to produce evidence to the contrary.

Of the 11 Tests between the two sides at Edgbaston, England have won just four, losing three and drawing the other four. And Australia's victory in the first Test was the 20th series in the past 22 that they have begun with victory - an ominous sign.

What's more, since their defeat to India in the third Test in Chennai in 2001 - the last time they lost a series - they have played in 52 Tests and lost just six, an astounding record. In addition, and this is where it gets scary for England, only one of those six defeats (again to India, in Adelaide in 2003/4) came in a live rubber as the rest were all after the series had already been won.

One more interesting statistic that should play a big part - of the past 13 Tests in Birmingham, the team batting first has won just once, while the team batting second has won nine times.

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