Pumped up England await Australian challenge

Sporting Index have come up with their usual excellent range of markets on the NatWest Series and have sensibly divided them into matches involving two of the teams. And with respect to Bangladesh, the most interesting ones concern those between England and Australia. If we assume that the two will qualify for the final, at Lord's, then we have four games to produce the relevant make-ups.

As usual, Sporting have set some markets for the top players in both batting and bowling, with Australia captain Ricky Ponting and opener Matthew Hayden topping the lists with a spread of 165 to 175 runs. Therefore, if you think either will score more than 175, you buy at that figure, but if you think either will score fewer, you sell them at that mark.

As shown in the fixed odds preview, Ponting's average is the best of the top names, at 42, while Hayden's is 40 and Trescotchick, the top English batsman in the markets, at 140-150, is down at 36. Damien Martyn, who has the second-best average at 41.71, is given a spread of 130-140, the same as England captain Michael Vaughan.

Much is expected of Kevin Pietersen, but the Hampshire man has a spread of just 120-130, but while that looks good on paper, bear in mind that he bats down the order and that it's more than possible that one or more games could be wiped out by rain. Each player concerned must play two matches for the bets to stand.

As usual, the player performance markets are perhaps the most interesting and Sporting have plumped for Adam Gilchrist and Andrew Flintoff. Awarding one point per run, 10 per catch, 20 per wicket and 25 per stumping, Gilchrist gets a 200-220 quote, while Flintoff is put up at 220-240. Markets like these are pretty often based around averages, and if Gilchrist performs as he has done over his 209 one-day matches, then his make-up is likely to be 225. Flintoff's would be 230. However, since these are based around averages, all it would take is one match-winning innings to take the spread rocketing up.

One other thing to bear in mind is the venues. England and Australia meet at Bristol, Riverside and Edgbaston in the group stage - none of them pitches renowned for high scoring, while the final is at Lord's.