talkSPORT betting tips – Best bets and expert advice for the Ashes fifth Test

The Ashes may have been lost once again but England at least ended their 15-year wait to win a Test in Australia with victory in the Boxing Day Test at the MCG. 

The five-match series concludes at another of Australia’s most iconic sporting venues, the Sydney Cricket Ground, where Ben Stokes’ tourists will be aiming to add another consolation win.

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Ashes fifth Test tips

• England to win @ 21/10
• Alex Carey to score a first-innings fifty @ SP
• Zak Crawley top England first-innings runscorer @ 5/1

England can build on MCG success

England were in no way perfect at the MCG but there was at least an appreciation of conditions and match awareness as they went about their second-innings chase, something that has been severely lacking in the first three Tests down under. 

A spicy pitch in Melbourne was a huge reason why the match was completed well inside two days – the second game of the series to make it only the second evening after Perth – but it suited England’s batting unit to go after Australia’s bowlers rather than wait for a ball with their name on it. 

Victory in Sydney would only add to the sense that England have missed a huge chance to emulate the squad of 2010-11 this winter, but with the hosts content to rest captain Pat Cummins and with Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon both injured, the two sides should definitely be closer in the betting than they are.

Pitches at the SCG tend to be some of the most batter-friendly in Australia and, providing they can rein in their Bazballing ways enough to eradicate unforced errors, there is still enough talent in England’s batting unit to take the game to a less-than-vintage Australia attack.

Mitchell Starc has carried the hosts’ bowling unit manfully all series, but his contribution has understandably begun to wane given his workload, while Scott Boland rarely errs from his line and length. 

But Australia’s bowling stock is unusually bare beyond that pair and England have shown enough with the ball at Melbourne and at the end of Australia’s second innings in Adelaide to suggest they build on their triumph in the Boxing Day Test.

Mr Dependable can deliver for hosts

Travis Head is by some distance the leading runscorer in what has been a low-scoring Ashes series. 

Head, whose move to the top of the order has been a masterstroke from the Aussies, has scored 437 runs and two of only four centuries in the series.

Joe Root and Australia wicket-keeper Alex Carey are the only other two centurions and the latter is one of just two men on either side within 200 runs of Head in the run charts.

Carey has had a fantastic series both with the bat and behind the stumps, and he has been dismissed for 20 just once in the first four Tests. 

His six innings include a crucial 63 in Brisbane as well as knocks of 106 and 72 on his home ground in Adelaide to help the Aussies retain the urn. 

Crawley benefiting from calmer approach

An authoritative 77 at the SCG four years ago is one of the reasons why England have so steadfastly kept faith with Zak Crawley.

The England opener has had his ups and downs during the series, but he has looked far more assured since opening the series with a pair in Perth. 

Perhaps with the criticism of his dismissals at the Optus Stadium in his ears, the tall right-hander has benefited from a more measured approach and his 85 from 151 balls – one of his slowest Test knocks – in the second innings at Adelaide had England on course for a record chase at one stage before his dismissal caused another predictable collapse. 

Is showing the same patience and playing balls on their merit rather than attempting booming drives, the 5/1 that Crawley makes England’s top first-innings score in Sydney could prove generous.

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All odds correct at time of writing.

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