Six down, one to go for Australia

Six down, one to go for Australia if they are to inflict England's first ever whitewash in a seven-game series of one-day internationals. And if the first six matches have shown us anything, it's more evidence that England are a woeful one-day side but crucially a side of players who can't wait for the summer to end.

Taking all that into consideration, I can't believe the Aussies are just 4/9 to win the last match, to be played on Sunday. Ok, so it's still a 50-50 match in terms of pure probability but on past history it's going to take something rather unlikely for England to avoid the humiliation of a seven-game whitewash.

We've talked enough about the wisdom of playing a seven-match one-day series after an emotionally and physically draining Ashes series, but Australia have gathered themselves well for one big effort and they really ought to win this match.

You can get 7/4 on England to win it but though they will win a one-day match at some stage, 4/9 on the Aussies is a decent price given everything that has gone before, a few major injuries in the England line-up and now, also, the fact that for Australia, winning all seven matches will at least make them feel a little better after their Ashes defeat.

Original series preview
If ever there was a case of too much of a good thing, then the seven-match one-day series between England and Australia is surely it. How both sides will get themselves up for this encounter is anyone's guess but I think the Aussies may just have the edge.

That's despite the fact that most of them must wish they were already on a plane back to Australia, having lost the Ashes in such a draining way by being beaten in the final Test at the Oval.

Why they persist in playing these one-dayers after Tests I really don't know, but the fact is they are, and there are seven of them, starting on Tuesday.

Now ordinarily in this situation, you would think that Australia would have no chance of winning the series. How do they get themselves up again for seven more matches when their hearts are not in it?

Well, they are professionals and they have to play the matches so they may as well play as best they can. The good thing for them is that they are a young team so they should not be overly jaded.

England, on the other hand, are without both their two most important one-day players in Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff. No team would be unaffected by their absence and that's the main reason why I think bet365 have got it right in making Australia 1/2 to win the series.

England are really not the best one-day team, anyway, as we have discussed many times before in these pages, while Australia have more all-rounders and good contributors than the hosts. And it may be harder for Paul Collingwood to focus the minds of his players than it is for Ricky Ponting.

In the correct score markets, a 4-3 win for the Aussies is favourite at 5/2, just ahead of a 5-2 win, which is available at 11/4, An England 4-3 win is 7/2, which is pretty strange when Australia are so strong favourites to win the series overall. A 6-1 win for the tourists is 6/1, while an England 5-2 win is 15/2 and a 6-1 win for England is 20/1.

If you fancy a whitewash, then it's just 14/1 that Australia win the lot and 66/1 that England crush them 7-0 themselves.