England still outsiders to recapture Ashes

Just a couple of weeks to go now before the first Test of the Ashes at Lord's and the prices on the outcome of the series continue to fluctuate.

Australia, who have been as long as 8/15 (1.53) and as short as 4/11 (1.36) to keep their recent stranglehold on the Ashes, are now 4/9 (1.44) while England, who've been as big as 100/30 (4.33) and as short as 5/2 (3.50), can now be backed at 11/4 (3.75) with bet365.

The triangular series with Australia and Bangladesh didn't answer too many questions as far as the Ashes go, but some encouraging displays from England have clearly been noticed by the more patriotic punters, with the weight of money on a home win seeing the price dip beneath 3/1. On the other hand, with three more one-dayers to come before the first Test, the prices will probably change a notch or two again.

In the same way, the correct score betting has also changed a little, with a 4-1 Australia win - the result of three of the past five Ashes series - drifting back out to 12/1 (13.00) from 11/1 (12.00). A 3-1 win remains the 11-2 favourite, while a 2-1 victory has gone out significantly to 8/1 (9.00) from 13/2 (7.50) on the back of their less than spectacular first month on tour. A 4-0 triumph has also drifted from 7/1 (8.00) to 10/1 (11.00), while a 5-0 whitewash is 18/1 (19.00) from 14/1 (15.00).

If you think England can win the Ashes for the first time since 1986/7, then a 2-1 victory is the favourite, into 11/1 (12.00) from 12/1 (13.00). A 3-1 win remains 14/1 (15.00) and 3-2 is 16/1 (17.00), from 18/1 (19.00). And there must have been some money for a 5-0 whitewash as the price is now 50/1 (51.00) from 80/1 (81.00).

The first Test begins at Lord's on July 21.