England Cricket / The Betfair Contrarian / 08 September 2009 / Leave a comment

Our man for all things underdog explains why England can come back from 2-0 down to beat Australia and deliver some tasty odds...

"England have made coming from behind to beat Australia an art form in recent years."

The Contrarian loves a cornered underdog - there's nothing like the tingle of fear to ignite a fight back and, after losing their opening two One Day Internationals against Australia, England have been truly boxed in, and will more than likely need to win four of the remaining five to claim the series.

The Ashes winners are a spicy [7.8] on Betfair to overcome the deficit and ensure that Australia's tour goes from being disastrous to one way only. Here's why the Contrarian was quick to pile on at that price:

England are capable of an instant turnaround...

Don't be fooled into thinking that England's poor start leaves them in danger of being whitewashed. The last time they were beaten in consecutive ODIs was back in March when the West Indies triumphed over them twice in the space of a week - the second by an embarrassing eight-wicket margin. Instead of entering a slump and feeling sorry for themselves, England avenged the heavy defeat with a nine-wicket victory of their own and that kick-started an impressive run of five straight wins that was only ended by Australia last Friday.

...as Australia should know better than most

England have made coming from behind to beat Australia an art form in recent years. Firstly, they recovered from losing the first Test to win the Ashes in 2005 and then this year they somehow escaped the first Test with an undeserved draw before improving drastically to win the second.

They also have previous at upsetting the Aussies' stride in one-day action, as was shown at the 2006-07 Commonwealth Bank Series which they both contested alongside New Zealand. Australia cruised through the group stage, winning seven of their eight games. Their first three meetings with England ended with resounding eight, four and nine-wicket victories. England snuck into the final despite losing five of their six games thanks largely to a 92-run win over Australia in their last group meeting. The final was a three-game series but England won the first two encounters to claim the trophy.

The visitors' ODI record is poor this year...

Ahead of their visit to England, Australia contested four ODI series this year but only came out on top in one of them. They started 2009 with a humiliating 4-1 home loss to South Africa before fighting back from 2-0 to salvage a 2-2 series draw in New Zealand. They narrowly overcame Pakistan 3-2 in the UAE for their first victory but their most recent outing ended miserably and showed their vulnerability when clinging onto a lead. They went 1-0 up in South Africa before suffering three consecutive defeats to eventually lose the series 3-2. A win in a one-off meeting with Scotland meant they entered this series with a record of 11 losses in 20 ODIs this year.

...whereas England's is strong

Prior to this series with Australia, England had only played eight ODIs this year but despite less practice, their record is far more convincing. Whereas Australia have won just 45% of their one-day games, England have won six of their eight, giving them a win ratio of 75%.

The Ashes triumph may prove a good omen

Over the years there hasn't been much correlation between success in Test series and victory in subsequent one-day encounters but a pattern has emerged this year. South Africa's 4-1 ODI series win in January came hot on the heels of a 2-1 Test triumph there. England also followed a convincing 2-0 victory in their final Test series before the Ashes against the West Indies with a 2-0 ODI win.

Trent Bridge awaits

Two of the remaining five games in the series are scheduled to take place at Trent Bridge and that's great news for England as they have won four of their last five ODIs there, three by margins of seven wickets or greater.

Tags: Andrew Strauss, Australia, Brett Lee, Cricket betting, England, ODI Betting, The Betfair Contrarian