South Africa still series favourites

Despite, or perhaps because of, events at Lord's in the first Test, South Africa remain favourites to win the four-match series against England, with bet365 keeping the tourists at even money to come out on top.

Though they touched 9/10 in the days before Lord's, they were roughly even money when events began in the first Test and their price has remained rock solid. England are 5/2 to win it, the same price as a drawn series - as happened last time..

As we talked about before the series began, since the 2001 Ashes, England's only defeat at home in a Test series came last summer, against India, so they are a pretty formidable proposition on home soil. South Africa have not won a series in England since their readmittance to the international arena in 1992.

The last home series between the two finished level at 2-2, but England also won 2-1 in South Africa in 2005. However, the tourists had lost just three of their previous 17 Tests going into Lord's and will go into the series with a talented side and plenty of confidence.

The draw at Lord's has naturally affected the correct score betting and it's interesting to see that the favourite outcome is a 1-1 draw, which rather goes against their odds on the teams outright.

South Africa are 5/1 to win the series 2-0, 11/2 to win it 1-0 and 7/1 to triumph 2-1, with a 3-0 victory only an 11/1 chance, a really tight price. If you fancy England, it's 17/2 that they win it 2-0, and 9/1 that they win 1-0 and 2-1. It's 22/1 that they win all three remaining Tests and 16/1 that each of the remaining three games are drawn.

Events at Lord's showed, if we didn't already know it, that there is very little between the two sides and the return of Andrew Flintoff, for the 2nd Test, which begins at Headingley on Friday, will be a big boost for England.

I still think, though, that England are a tough side to beat at home and though they may not be quite at 100 percent at the moment, they will still take some dislodging.