Ashes Series Player Tips: Cummins solid at 4/1 to dominate

• Cummins a cut above

• Don't forget Stokes at a big price

• Head a live chance for top Aus bat

Top series wicket-taker - Back Cummins @ 4/15.00

In James Anderson and Stuart Broad England have two of the all-time great fast bolwers. Australia's Pat Cummins is unlikely to take as many wickets as either of them but few would argue he can't match them for skill.

At 30, Cummins has 221 Test victims and had it not been for chronic injuries early on in his career he would surely have had more. What he can boast of in this potentially epic series, however, is the best strike rate of the bowlers on show who have managed more than 20 Tests.

Cummins tales a wicket every 47 balls. It puts him slap bang in the zone for top series wicket-taker at 4/15.00 with Sportsbook, not to mention highest Australia wicket-taker.

For a start, Cummins is the one of only two pacers guaranteed to play all five Tests. On his own side, Mitchell Starc or Scott Boland could be replaced by a fit-again Josh Hazlewood. We already know that James Anderson has said he won't play all five, Mark Wood's body surely won't allow him to while Stuart Broad has accepted his role in a rotation policy.

The greatest threat to Cummins for top overall wicket-taker comes from Ollie Robinson (who matches his strike rate from a much skinnier study sample of 16 Tests and availability) and off-spinner Nathan Lyon. Robinson and Lyon are 11/26.50 the pair.

Lyon is an interesting wager. On surfaces which could be increasingly dry he is likely to bowl more overs than anyone. However, he bowled more than anyone else in the 2019 series in England and Cummins still came out on top. There's also a fear that England's top-order of right-handers negate his most dangerous delivery.

Top England wicket taker - Back Robinson @ 15/82.88

A wager on Robinson to be top England bowler should not be a surprise. As stated, he should play in all five games fitness permitting.

He is no longer an underrated operator. Sportsbook make him favourite for the market at 15/82.88 and it is justfied across the strike rate metric and his bowling style.

Robinson is a metronome and can hit the top of off all day. There is even a slim chance he gets extra 'easy' overs as an offspinner. But we digress. His ability is a paceman is unrivalled with new ball or old and a big series is expected.

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Top England runscorer - Back Stokes @ 10.09/1

Ben Stokes has already done it once. Can he do it again? At the odds of 10.009/1 on the Exchange it's worthy of a yes vote.

Stokes won this market in the last home series, of course, and he ability with the bat is unquestionable. There are others, too, of course who on technical style will reckon they are big runners, Joe Root or Ollie Pope for example.

Where Stokes has the edge is in pressure matches. There has never been a cricketer like Stokes. In the clutch moments he steps up; whether it be a 50-over World Cup final, a T20 World Cup or that outrageous performance at Headingley. He is a complete one-off.

Stokes may look to replicate the sort of hitting he produced at Leeds much earlier in his innings in this series if he comes to the wicket in a position of strength. But similarly he may adapt to a crisis by being more circumspect. With the new ball likely to hurt England Stokes at no 6 is not the forgotten man that the odds suggest.

Don't rule out a 12/113.00 winner on man of the series, either for Stokes. An England series win and that market are very much related.

Top Australia series bat - Back Head @ 7.06/1

The price on Travis Head for top Australia series bat has taken a chop in the wake of the man of the match performance in the WTC Final against India. But 7.006/1 is still available on the exchange about a dominant display for the tourists.

Head is the one Aussie who would fit in seamlessly to Bazball. He took the attack to India at The Oval in a period of difficulty. And he was just as aggressive at Brisbane in 2021 when he flayed England for 152.

As a result, Head has no qualms about going hard against this England attack. The pitches will suit him, too. Sure Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne are hot tickets but Head should be a bit skinnier.