Cook claims favouritism after magnificent first Test performance
Published:Unsurprisingly Alistair Cook has been slashed into 1/2 from 6/1 to be England’s top series runscorer after a magnificent performance in the first Test in Brisbane.
But while Alistair Cook may be 138 runs ahead of Jonathan Trott after the first Test, Trott’s second innings of 135 means he continues to average over 80 against Australia.
Trott is a huge price at 5/1 to make up the 138 deficit on Cook and end the series as England’s top runscorer considering he has now scored 324 runs in four innings against Australia.
Like the Gabba, the Adelaide Oval has provide fruitful for the batsman in recent years with over 6000 runs scored in the last five Tests.
It’s usually Australia who dominate the Adelaide wicket and the Aussies have declared three times on the past five occasions and have scored over 500 runs on the last two occasions against England in Adelaide.
While Cook may be the top series runscorer, Mike Hussey’s first innings of 195 puts him just 107 runs behind Cook, but the top series runscorer betting market prices Cook at 13/8 and Hussey at 5/1 – Trott is 6/1.
Like Trott, Hussey enjoys a huge average (58 over 16 innings) in the Ashes and he is a massive danger to England and punters who have backed Cook to be top series runscorer.
Despite Australia winning 16 of 29 Ashes Test matches in Adelaide, there are huge question marks surrounding the bowling attack and the England top order can take advantage and post some more high scores.
With both bowling attacks preparing to take another battering when the second Test starts in the early hours of Friday morning in Adelaide, Cook certainly isn’t assured of keeping his place at the top of the leader board come the end of the second Test.
A £10 stake on Trott being top series runscorer would return £60. New customers can sign up here for a free £10 bet.
