England Cricket / Editor / 10 February 2007 /

Australia v England - Commonwealth Bank Series Final (Match 2) - Sunday 3:15am GMT

They say a week is a long time in politics; well it looks like that old adage can now be applied to cricket after the last seven days have seen England transform themselves from a bunch of no-hopers to successive wins over the best side in the world.

The Commonwealth Bank Series has been completely turned on it's head over the last three games with England putting up fine performances to win their last two group games against Australia and New Zealand, and then outdoing both of those with a battling success in the opening game of the best-of-three game final.

But despite the four-wicket win at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday morning, Betfair punters still have England as 3.3 outsiders to win the trophy by securing one of the final two games and confirming that their one-day form really might be something permanent rather than a blip in the mediocrity it has been.

Australia are 1.42 to win both of the last two games, although those keen to anoint them as World Cup certainties will have more worries now than they would have two games ago, with the errors beginning to come into their play and their bowlers starting to look worryingly jaded. But they remain a short 1.2 favourite to win in Sydney, with England at 5.7.

Just as an aside to this second final preview, Australia are now 2.74 to win the World Cup, having been as low as 2.5, while the improving England have seen their price contract from a high of 23 down to 13.5 as supporters take their position that the likes of Paul Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff and Ian Bell will continue to produce for the next two months.

Onto the business of the second final, which starts in the early hours of Sunday morning at the Sydney Cricket Ground - home of the first game in this brief England revival, when they beat off Australia by 92 runs in one of their best recent one-day performances this correspondent can remember.

The good news for England is that a number of their players are showing signs of coming out of slumps - some of them prolonged - but none more so than Collingwood, who has to have a chance in the top England batsman market after following up a century against New Zealand in the closing group match with another in Melbourne, this time unbeaten.

The Durham all-rounder also took a sensational catch to get Ricky Ponting and was involved in two run-outs to claim a well-deserved man-of-the-match award.

Ed Joyce and Bell were also in the runs in Sydney, and the Warwickshire man made the most of a comical Glenn McGrath drop to make another half-century in Melbourne just as his place in the side was coming under threat from the likes of Ravi Bopara, a member of the side that claimed the original victory in Sydney.

But most important for England has been the fact that their bowlers have taken wickets at key times in all three of the victories. Liam Plunkett and Sajid Mahmood bowled superbly with the new ball in Sydney while Flintoff and Monty Panesar were excellent in Melbourne as, for once, it was Australia who collapsed from a solid 170-1 to 252 all out.

The pressure is now firmly on Australia, with Michael Clarke, Mike Hussey and Adam Gilchrist struggling for runs in recent games against England and Glenn McGrath not looking in the best of form with the ball. Their selectors' decision to dispense with the services of paceman Stuart Clark is looking more and more unreasonable, especially after he took a hat-trick in his 4-11 for New South Wales as they opened up a Pura Cup game with Western Australia in Perth - a selection that means he will definitely not be available to play in this clash.

Although Brett Lee bowled well in the MCG defeat, he received little in the way of support from McGrath and the returning Shane Watson, who looked a little under-cooked. But both will have to up their performance levels in Sydney, as will Mitchell Johnson or Shaun Tait if they come into the team at the expense of spinner Brad Hogg.

They will hope for more solid batting at the top of the order from skipper Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden, who remain in fine form and should be handy towards the head of the top Australian batsman market once it develops nearer to the first ball on Sunday morning.

But the signs of raggedness that they have displayed in their last four matches will give those looking to jump on the England bandwagon plenty of hope, for New Zealand have also given them plenty of trouble in their two most recent matches in a series which has become a far closer affair in the last 10 days than most experts and punters had expected.

Don't forget also that Betfair will be offering a number of in-play markets during Sunday's game, as well as the third final on Tuesday should Australia win in Sydney to set up what should be an exciting end to the summer of cricket Down Under.

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