Australian cricketers still at backable odds

Australia has thus far crushed England in the one-day cricket series, a serious turnaround on the Ashes result.

Ricky Ponting's hundred in the last match helped the Aussies overhaul an unlikely target of 300, and Callum Ferguson, Cameron White, Nathan Hauritz and Tim Paine are all proving useful for their country.

Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson have been a handful for the English brigade, despite Johnson going for 80 in the last game.

On the surface it seems there's little England will be able to do to prevent a 7-0 whitewash.

That's what people said about St Kilda entering the final rounds of the AFL. History was against them finishing the season undefeated. And it proved as true for them as it did for Geelong two seasons earlier.

Had you backed the Australian cricketers before the series to clean up, you'd have received a 17-1 return on your money with some bookmakers. But the job's not done yet. And chances are the Australian heirarchy, in all their wisdom, will experiment with the team leading into the Twenty20 World Cup.

If so, that makes the final two games a coin flip. England will be keen to alter the momentum, and our boys in the green and gold might just be starting to feel a little cocky.

However, remember Brett Lee sat out the last game. It's not a bad ace to have up your sleeve.

Still, the odds on England winning a game are not nearly juicy enough for mine. England is at $2.65 on Betfair, which seems to offer the best cricket odds. They are still offering around the $1.60 mark for the Australians. And it's always dangerous to back against form on the premise someone - in this case the Poms - is "due".

If I had the 17-1, I'd be feeling reasonably confident.

And I'd reckon Australia at anything over $1.50 is a wise investment in game 6 tonight.