England try to maintain momentum

What's going on? Australia, conquerors of all before them in recent years, are suddenly looking vulnerable. Beaten three times in a week - four if you include the Twenty20 loss - they have been rocked by disciplinary problems and they are in need of a victory against England on Thursday to get back on track.

The two sides meet in the fifth game of the NatWest Series with England sitting pretty on top of the table with three wins out of three, while Australia are languishing in last place with two defeats, including the shocking humiliation at the hands of Bangladesh.

No one is yet suggesting that the Ashes will be coming back home later this summer, but in the true spirit of schadenfreude England should be enjoying the poor form of the tourists and though everyone is waiting for Australia to come good, England are high on confidence and will fancy their chances of another victory at the Riverside on Thursday, especially with Steve Harmison, Paul Collingwood on their home turf.

Their pedigree is such that Australia remain 4/6 (1.66) favourites for Thursday while England can be backed at 11/10. Should Michael Vaughan's team pull it off, then they will have beaten Australia three times in a row for the first time since 1998-9. The Aussies haven't lost three one-day internationals in a row to anyone since West Indies beat them in 2002/03.

Paul Collingwood, the hero of Tuesday's victory over Bangladesh with a century and six wickets - the first person ever to achieve the feat in a one-day international - is a 14/1 (15.00) chance to be Man of the Match at the Riverside. For the record, the all-rounder has won the Man of the Match award six times in his 73 matches, and never against Australia.

Kevin Pietersen tops the market at 8/1 (9.00), while Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist are 17/2 (9.50) and Andrew Flintoff is 9/1 (10.00), the same as Australia opener Matthew Hayden. Gilchrist is certainly due some runs, and the all-rounder has been named Man of the Match in 20 of his 211 matches, a fine average.

England are even money (2.00) to have a better opening partnership than Australia, a decent price if you look at the first four matches, in terms of average, with England outscoring Australia by 124 to 28. However, in the first meeting between the two, Hayden and Gilchrist managed 57 to the 39 of Andrew Strauss and Marcus Trescothick. The Aussies are 8/11 (1.72).

Bet365 have also come up with a few batsman matches, pitting one man against the other. They can't split Hayden and Trescothick, or Hayden and Ricky Ponting, but they do make Strauss an 8/11 (1.72) favourite to beat Michael Vaughan, at evens (2.00). Given a slight worry over Vaughan's fitness, and Strauss's fine form of late, that looks reasonable value, even though Vaughan raises his game against Australia.

Trescothick is the 100/30 (4.33) favourite to top the scoring for England, while the in-form Pietersen shares second favouritism at 4/1 (5.00) with Vaughan and Strauss. Flintoff is 5/1 (6.00) and Collingwood 6/1 (7.00).

For Australia, Ponting, Hayden and Gilchrist are favourites at 7/2 (4.50). I can't see it being too long before Gilchrist hits form, even if his average of 35 is below that of both Hayden and Ponting. Damien Martyn, one of the few who looks in good nick, can be backed at 11/2. (6.50)

Cambers' Choice:
Adam Gilchrist to be top Australia batsman 4/1 (5.00)