A wet and miserable Sydney means draw looks the best bet

It wasn’t the greatest of first days for new Australian captain Michael Clarke, but the rain may have just saved his blushes.

With his side cruising along at 105-1 thanks to an impressive 37 from debutant Usman Khawaja, Clarke’s team then capitulated to 134-4 on a day that was interrupted three times due to rain.

And the forecast for the following four days is bleak with many weather experts believing in a similar pattern to that of the first day.

Which leaves the draw, priced at 6/4, looking the pick of the market in the fifth and final Test.

England’s flurry of wickets has seen them cut into 5/4 favouritism to win the fifth Test, and they are now 2/9 to win the Ashes series with a series draw available at 3/1.

But Mike Hussey and Brad Haddin will both be at the crease for the start of tomorrow’s play, and the two have been Australia’s in-form players with the bat during this series and their wickets are crucial for England.

Hussey, currently on 12, is 5/6 to go on and score more than 45.5 and 7/2 to go on and make a century.

Haddin is yet to face a ball but is 5/6 to score over 28.5 – a relatively low total considering his innings of 136, 56, 53 and 55 so far this series.

While Australia’s two most in-form batsman are at the crease, the SCG wicket isn’t the best for the batsman and the 5/6 available for Australia to score under 299.5 runs is incredible value.

Considering there have only been scores of more than 300 in 32 of the 103 Ashes innings played at the SCG, punters should fill their boots on Australia not surpassing the 300 run mark.

A £10 stake on Haddin being Australia’s top first innings runscorer would return £43.33. New customers can sign up here for a free £10 bet.