South Africa v England Cricket Betting Analysis

The International cricket season for England has finally come to an end with the termination of the ICC Champions Trophy in September. It was a season that began in November 2003 in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka before touring the West Indies during the spring. Summer test series against New Zealand and West Indies again, punctuated by the NatWest series with the same nations then led into a one-day series with India and the ICC Champions Trophy.It has been a thoroughly successful time, especially in the test arena, where ten of eleven matches have ended in victory during 2004. A defeat in the ICC Champions Trophy Final was a disappointing end but there is no doubt that Michael Vaughan's men have come on in leaps and bounds in both forms of the game.After the Zim. tour, the team are heading down to South Africa for an enticing five test series. It gets under way on 17 December in Port Elizabeth, with the traditional Boxing Day test being played in Durban straight away afterwards. The three remaining fixtures are in Cape Town, Johannesburg and finally at Centurion, due to finish on January 25th 2005.It will be a great challenge for England to see how far they have come. The bookies have them down as 5/4 favourites, with the hosts available at a decent looking 9/5. Odds for a drawn series are a best of 7/2 at BlueSq.The highlight of the 2005 campaign however will be the Ashes Series of next summer. Australia have been the number one nation in the world for the last decade, and England have fared especially badly against them. This current English set up is full of talent and confidence however and can be taken at 7/2 to win the five test series. Australia are just 4/7 with the draw at 9/2 at BlueSq.