Punters Back England Cricket to Win the Ashes

Punters are overwhelmingly backing England to win The Ashes, with William Hill recording a huge 83% of bets in favor of England victory.

Buoyed by Australia's bad run of form, the surge has pushed England into odds of 2/1 to win the first test, with Australia still the favorite at 5/4 and a draw paying 11/4.

The odds for the series are similar, with William Hill offering 11/10 on Australia to reclaim the coveted trophy, 9/5 on England to win, and 4/1 on a drawn series (which of course, would mean England retain The Ashes, due to winning the previous series).

Ashes in Perspective

An England victory would be historic given that they have not won The Ashes on away soil since 1986-7.

Ricky Ponting and Graeme Swann lead the odds for first test man of the match. Aside from all the usual odds on top batsmen, bowlers and players, William Hill Sports has also opened up a whole extra line of betting for specials.

In odds on what will happen with the first ball of the first test in Brisbane on Thursday, the ubiquitous dot ball in unsurprisingly the clear favorite, at 1/4, followed by one run off bat, 7/2, four runs off bat, 16/1, and a wicket, 20/1.

After the first test in Brisbane starting Thursday, the series will move on to Adelaide on Dec. 3-7, Perth on Dec. 16-20, Melbourne on Dec. 26-30 and the final test in Sydney on Jan. 3-7.

Action!

The Ashes first match takes place Thursday. Visit the sportsbook to place your bets now.