Australia remain favourites despite squad doubts

The talking is all but over, the show is about to begin. England's Ashes tour gets underway in earnest at the Gabba on Thursday morning, at a venue where Australia have not lost since 1988-89, and England have not won since 1986-87.

With that in mind, the odds-setters at Bet365 are refusing to be swayed by sentiment, or even by the raised eyebrows that Australia's squad produced last week, with it featuring a debutant opener in Cameron Bancroft, and recalls for Shaun Marsh and Tim Paine, who hasn't featured in Australia's plans since 2010.

Australia remain overwhelming favourites, both for victory in the first Test (8/11, compared to England's 11/4), as well as for the series. It's been a constant refrain throughout the interminable build-up, but Australia are shorter odds to achieve a 5-0 whitewash (8/1) than England are to achieve a victory by any margin.

England's likeliest winning scoreline, according to the bookies, is a 3/1 win (14/1) - the same as they achieved in 2010-11. Their own prospects of winning 5-0 are a virtually non-existent 80/1.

Australia's gun duo of Steve Smith and David Warner are the market-leaders where top series run-scorer is concerned. Both men are currently 3/1. Joe Root, England's captain, is 5/1, with his former captain, Alastair Cook at 6/1. And how about Ben Stokes? England's absentee allrounder is a not outrageous 20/1 to sneak into the squad at the last minute and dominate the series. You know what? I wouldn't bet on it...