England in the Ashes Driver Seat After Day One

England won the toss and chose to bat on the opening day’s action at Trent Bridge and the Australian quicks had a solid day that looked to have spoiled England’s party early on. That was before James Anderson and Steve Finn ripped into the Australian order early with some stellar bowling that has firmly placed the Aussies on the back foot heading into the second day’s play. 

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The match has swung more in England’s direction at this point than it was during the pre-match phase when they traded at an 8/11 price for the outright win. 

As it currently stands, you will find the English team priced at 8/15 in the live markets with most major bookmakers. The Australian side trade at a 7/4 listing and they had swung down to a much shorter price when they were in the middle of doing England some serious trouble. 

You reckon that the English side will be a bit disconcerted about their efforts with the bat as only Jonathan Trott really got close to a 50, getting out on 48 when he had steadied things a bit. Kevin Pietersen was out cheaply and the opening partnership was broken at 27 - ahead of the 30.5 over/under set by most European books in the live betting market. 

A drawn fixture would pay out at 14/1 at this point and the bookmakers seem to think this one may be over fairly quickly. 

Australia are favoured to have the opening innings lead sorted out by the end of their session with the bat. The books have them priced at 8/11, currently sitting at 75-4, to top England’s total of 214. 

England are priced at even money to finish up with a 1st innings lead. An exact tie would produce a hefty 50/1 payout. 

Steven Smith is favoured to produce the best performance with the bat for Australia in the remaining innings and he’s trading at an 8/13 price to finish with the best 1st innings score. Phil Hughes sits a ways behind in second favourite’s position with an 11/4 listing.