England v Australia Prediction: Potts can help hosts to Series win in 5th ODI

It's the fifth and final match of the Series as England host Australia at Bristol on Sunday with the score at 2-2. It's a start time of 11:00 for this one, a match broadcast live on Sky Sports Cricket.     

Weather permitting, Jamie Pacheco thinks England can win the Series, with a familiar name top-scoring for Australia and an in-form bowler for England worthy of support at 9/2 as he goes through his England vs Australia Predictions...

4th ODI Recap  

An excellent batting display by England in a shortened match was followed by a rare Australian batting collapse, meaning England won at a canter and we head to Bristol with the Series in the balance and all to play for.  

Two of our three men weren't in action. Aaron Hardie got a rest after featuring in six matches for Australia during the month of September while Cameron Green was, and is, injured. He's already back home and a doubt for that big Australia v India Test Series which by the way, will be covered extensively here on Betfred Insights.  

So it was left to Glenn Maxwell to represent us and he did his best, taking a wicket; but he only bowled the three overs and it was highly likely that someone would get two, which Adam Zampa did. So 0.5 points lost there means we're still a point or so in the red but this is a good chance to change that.   

England  

It was somewhat surprising that Jofra Archer played in the fourth match but he did, taking two wickets. Either England felt they needed him to play to get back in the Series or that the time is right to stop wrapping him in cotton wool and test whether he can play back-to-back matches when they really need him to. It's a quick turnaround so it's a bit of a gamble.  

Phil Salt's quiet run continued with 22 off 27 last time out but they might as well give him one last chance to make an impact, so we probably won't see Jordan Cox in action yet.  

All-rounders Liam Livingstone and Jacob Bethell have both been excellent, doing everything that's been asked of them.  

Possible XI:  Salt, Duckett, Jacks, Brook, Smith, Livingstone, Bethell, Potts Carse, Rashid, Archer/Stone.    

Australia  

It's not often you see Australia's batting fold like a pack of cards but no two cricket games are the same.  

Whoever they pick here will be their strongest side and that should mean Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc both featuring again.  

They'll need the balance provided by Hardie with no Green around so Josh Inglis will probably be sacrificed with Alex Carey taking the gloves again. The other option is to drop Sean Abbott, unusually expensive in this Series by his standards, keep Inglis, and use part-timers like Mitch Marsh, Marnus Labuschagne and Travis Head a bit more with the ball.  

Possible XI: Head, Marsh, Smith, Labuschagne, Carey, Maxwell, Abbott/Inglis Hardie, Starc, Hazlewood, Zampa.  

Pitch and conditions  

It would be a shame if we don't get a completed match in Bristol because this Series deserves a thrilling finale. Then again, the way it's gone, some might argue that a share of the spoils is precisely what it deserves.  

Another betting company makes it odds-against that we get a completed match, which may be a bit of an overreaction. The same happened in games three and four so we can't always trust those sorts of odds. 

I think we might get a reduced one again with enough overs played for DLS to get a result.  

A shortened affair makes predicting first innings scores hard but based on what's happened in the last few years here, around 270 might be a par score if the full 50 overs are played; so do the maths if it becomes 30-40 overs first up.  

England vs Australia 5th ODI Odds

This is the first match of the Series where the odds-compilers can't really split the two. It's evens on England and 4/5 on Australia after the Aussies had been favourites in the first four. 

My preference is for England. Not because they're marginally the bigger price but rather because they've adapted better to matches reduced in overs in terms of how they need to bat, or how quickly they need to score, something Australia have strangely struggled with.    

The absence of Green will also surely play its part and the constant chopping and changing, both in terms of personnel and batting position, is also very un-Australian. 

This England side may have been a bit of a motley crew to begin with but the Top 7 has remained the same and that consistency could play into their hands here, so all I all, England it is.