Adam Gilchrist: England are favourites
Former Australian wicketkeeper and batsman http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Adam-Gilchrist-c918 says England will start the Ashes this winter as favourites to retain the urn.
The former Test great says England has much more unity and confidence than their opponents but the fact Australia has home advantage will make for one of the most exciting series for a long time.
Bookmakers all across the United Kingdom and Australia have had the Australians down at a slightly shorter price in the build up to the series. However, Gilchrist suggests Australia's recent 2-0 defeat
to India will provide England with ammunition to attack.
Both sides have a number of strengths but there is little doubt over the fact that England is in Australia with the best chance of winning an Ashes series since the 1986/87 win.
England unity
The England unity is fantastic and this creates great belief and confidence. England will be away from home until well into the New Year and it's important that every member of the squad is able to keep
smiles on faces.
England looks like a very confident and well disciplined side at the moment. Andy Flower's team did not perform to full capacity during the summer against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 but still did enough to comfortably win
the Test series 3-1.
The England team is going to need to be strong enough to take a lot of verbal and written abuse this winter. The Australia media and public are world famous for getting on the back of touring teams, especially
when it's the old enemy.
"I see a very confident, compact England unit.
England should start favourites, they are the most composed group at the moment and seem to have confidence about each other and as a group. That will serve them well on that first
morning. I think you can hardly split the top four or five teams in world cricket at the moment," said Gilchrist.
The India series
Australia has just been on a two match Test series tour of India and lost both matches. This provides England with something to focus on.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 did not play as well as they can and this shows England there is room for recovery if the Ashes series doesn't start well.
Australia has also just been beaten comprehensively by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 in the opening Twenty20 match of the summer. If there is any sign of Australia
players taking England for granted then the series score could end up a lot different to what many people are thinking.
"There
is uncertainty about what their best XI is when everyone is fully fit. The bowling has suffered a great deal of disruption and that makes it difficult.
The team have taken a blow in confidence with a series of negative results and I think we are realising we don't like losing and took for granted that we were winning so often.
Either team could win it and I think everyone is anticipating another tight series," he added.
Betting advice
It's encouraging from an England point of view that this is a Test match series in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 where the focus is not on the problems within
the England camp or the lack of preparation England will have.
There are serious questions in Australia over the captaincy of Ricky Ponting, the best Australian eleven, the best Australian bowling attack
and the role of members within the selection group.
Australia in Australia always plays well but England are much better than in the 2006/07 series. Andrew Strauss will get his side to batter
the life out of Australia and a 2-1 or 3-1 England win is probable.
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