Pietersen prepared for Aussie swing as Boxing Day draws closer

The third Test was the first time Australia had entered a home Ashes Test as underdogs in living memory.

The Ashes betting market tells the whole story with Australia now favourites to win the Ashes series following their third Test victory.

Australia were as big as 5/1 to win the Ashes heading into the third Test, they are now 6/4.

England were 2/5 to win the Ashes series following the second Test, they are now 7/2.

Australia’s domination on a green wicket in Perth has seen the Melbourne groundstaff switch to a greener wicket than the one England faced Victoria on just 10 days ago.

But Kevin Pietersen believes the England team are better prepared to cope with the Australian swing attack after their defeat in the third Test, and the batsman is relishing the pressure that the Boxing Day Test will bring.

“We didn’t bat as well as we could have – we understand the reasons and had a good thrash in the team meeting about the reasons,” said Pietersen.

“We’ve come to grips with that and will be a lot better prepared come Melbourne.”

Pietersen managed just three runs in the third Test across both innings, but despite this Pietersen is the favourite at 7/2 to be England’s top first innings runscorer.

Andrew Strauss, Ian Bell and, to an extent, Alistair Cook were the only players to handle the swing of Mitchell Johnson and Ryan Harris, and those three are 4/1, 5/1 and 4/1 respectively to be England’s top first innings runscorer.

Paul Collingwood’s Test place is under a extreme pressure but it seems Andy Flower will stick with the one-day captain for the fourth Test.

Collingwood has come to England’s rescue on numerous occasions and despite his poor form, can do so again.

A £10 stake on Collingwood being England’s top first innings runscorer would return £70. New customers can sign up here for a free £10 bet.