England hope to salvage reputation  

The Ashes is only halfway through and England are already under heavy scrutiny for everything from their shoddy batting, listless bowling and unimpressive captaincy. England haven’t even come close to testing Australia and the odds of 12 to win this Test seems quite generous.

The draw option rests at 1.54 and that might be a realistic aim.

Australia have a top-class bowling attack even with one of their top guys missing. At Sydney, where the surface is a bit damp because of the rains, that pace attack will remain daunting for England. Australia have odds of 2.86 to go 4-0 up in the series.

Australia and Sydney

Australia last lost a Test match at Sydney in 2011, incidentally against England, and more interestingly it was the last time England won a Test match in Australia. In the 13 Tests after that in Australia, there have been 12 Aussie wins and one draw.

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All odds point at another thumping win by Australia. Their batting looks formidable with the addition of Usman Khawaja for Travis Head, who is sidelined due to COVID-19. England also have their best attack on paper with Stuart Broad brought back to accompany James Anderson.

Keep an eye on… 

Stuart Broad: He missed two matches in the series, something even Steven Smith thought was a poor call by England. Anyway, he’s back in the XI now and Broad will want to make sure he shows them what he can do.

Steve Smith: Despite Australia’s dominance, Steve Smith has had a relatively quiet series. With the surface less potent at Sydney and expected to favour batting a bit, Smith will aim to turn around his form.

TIP: The world’s No.1 batter, Marnus Labuschagne, is due a huge knock and has odds of 4.40 to do so.