Pietersen star continues to rise

The one glimmer of hope in England's largely abject batting performance at Lord's, Kevin Pietersen, has been cut to second favourite to emerge as the top scorer on either team in the five-match Ashes series. While Australia captain Ricky Ponting continues to head the market at 5/1 (6.00), Pietersen's two half-centuries have seen his odds slashed from 12/1 (13.00) to 11/2 (6.50). Not bad for a man who's just made his debut against the world's top side.

Australia opener Justin Langer is next at 6/1 (7.00) while Damien Martyn, fancied in this column to come out on top, has actually drifted slightly from 7/1 (8.00) to 15/2 (8.50) despite a fine half-century of his own in the second innings at Lord's. The top scorer at Lord's, Michael Clarke, whose 91 went a long way to setting up victory, is surprisingly long still at 17/2 (9.50).

Remember, of the past six Ashes series, five of the top runscorers have been opening batsmen and Marcus Trescothick, who looks in for a rough ride from Glenn McGrath, is the next Englishman in the betting at 11/1 (12.00). His opening partner Andrew Strauss is 12/1 (13.00) - the same price as captain Michael Vaughan, who unfortunately for England, looks worryingly out of form. However, although his average has dipped from its height of 50 he did of course have a great series in Australia last time round and knows he can compete against the best.

Simon Katich, another to hit a half-century in the second innings in Lord's, is the only other batsman to shorten in the betting, coming in from 16/1 (17.00) to 14/1 (15.00), though it's tough for a No 6 or No 7 batsman to top the runscoring as much of their batting is often done in tandem with the tail. Adam Gilchrist, the best number seven in the world, is now 12/1 (13.00) from 11/1 (12.00), while Andrew Flintoff, who failed twice at Lord's, is now a massive 25/1 (26.00) to come out on top.

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