There is less than a month top go before the start of the eagerly-awaited five-Test Ashes series between Australia and England Down Under. Yet it would be remiss not to point out that the early bird gets the worm on markets for what is cricket’s showpiece in the longest form.
So with a raft of bookmakers pricing up England’s top series runscorer, we have to mark your card about a very good price before it goes. Joe Root, the England captain, is +188 with Stan James. If you have just one bet on this contest make sure it is this one.
Root, you see, is head and shoulders the best England batsman. He is possibly the best England batsman in a generation. He is rated by the ICC as the No 2 batsman in the world, just behind his Aussie counterpart Steve Smith.
And even though he graduated to captaincy this year, the extra responsibility has not been a burden at all. If anything, he has been even more ruthless with the blade. In the last 12 months, he averages 53 with 1,277 runs.
But what is most attractive about this Root bet is that he has almost nothing to beat. If the Yorkshireman was this price with, say, Kevin Pietersen in the ranks and another established player with a 45-plus career mark we would still bet him.
It is arguable he should be shorter, though, because it is widely accepted that this is one of the weakest batting squads England have ever assembled for an Ashes series. Dawid Malan, Mark Stoneman, James Vince and Gary Ballance are not fit to lace Root’s boots. It is possible that those four won’t outscore Root with their runs tallies combined.
The likely absence of Ben Stokes, England’s talismanic all-rounder, also boosts Root. Some might argue that Alastair Cook, the former captain and a consistent thorn in Australia’s side, will give us a run for our money at +275 with Ladbrokes.
Yet we have not been impressed by him in the last 12 months, despite averaging nearly 14 runs fewer than Root. He has looked unsure where his off-stump is at times and against West Indies, a weak attack, and South Africa, there were occasions when it really looked as if he had gone off the boil.
If you must find an alternative to Root, the best is Jonny Bairstow. He is +700 with Bet365 and we have to say we are surprised he is so big. He is a much better player than that and there is no harm in having a little saver on him.
Bairstow has bags of courage and loves a battle, which is exactly what he will get in Australia. There is no doubt he will stand up and be counted when the pressure is on, unlike some of his team-mates. He has a mark of 34 in the last 12 months and although that is poor, we expect the flat, fast wickets to suit him.
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