Who will face Australia in final?
As expected, Australia are storming their way through the Commonwealth Bank one-day series with the minimum of fuss and the only thing to be decided is which one of England and New Zealand will earn the right to face them in the best-of-three final
Simon Cambers
17-Jan-2007
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As expected, Australia are storming their way through the Commonwealth Bank one-day series with the minimum of fuss and the only thing to be decided is which one of England and New Zealand will earn the right to face them in the best-of-three final.
Australia are now 1/12 (1.08) to win it overall, with New Zealand 10/1 and England the rank outsiders at 12/1 (13.00).
With each side playing each other four times in the group stage, England and New Zealand meet for the second time, on Tuesday in Adelaide, with England having snatched the first victory of their Ashes Tour first time around.
The Black Caps should be heartened by the way they played in their two meetings with Australia, but they desperately need a win and bet365 make them 8/11 (1.72) favourites to beat England on Tuesday with Andrew Flintoff's side even money.
Flintoff will again lead England in the absence of Michael Vaughan, who is out for the next two games, and having shown plenty of form with the bat in this series, he is 5/1 to be England's top runscorer on Tuesday.
Mal Loye is favourite after topscoring in the last match, at 7/2, with Andrew Strauss 4/1 and Ian Bell 9/2. Paul Collingwood is 11/2 and Ed Joyce and Ravi Bopara both 7/1.
For New Zealand, captain Stephen Fleming is the favourite at 7/2 and the left-hander could do with scoring some runs to lead by example for those to come.
Nathan Astle and Ross Taylor are both 9/2, with Peter Fulton 5/1 and Craig McMillan 11/2.
For the record, the side batting first in Adelaide has won 36 of the 61 one-day matches to have been played there. And while obviously that statistic may be slightly misleading because Australia have been involved more often than not, the toss could still be important.
Please note that odds are correct at time of publication and are subject to change.
Simon Cambers is Cricinfo's betting correspondent