England v Australia Prediction: Back Mitch at 11/4 and other Mitch at 4/1 in 3rd ODI

It’s the final match of the Series as England host Australia at Durham on Tuesday for the 3rd ODI with a start time of 12:30, a match broadcast live on Sky Sports Cricket.     

Jamie Pacheco is putting faith in the Mitches - Starc and Marsh – to deliver with ball and bat respectively at 11/4 and 4/1 as he looks to end another Series in profit as he takes us through his England vs Australia Predictions for the match, hoping that the weather plays ball...

2nd ODI Recap  

Another missed chance for England, who could have restricted Australia to just over 200 but let them get to a par score, mostly thanks to Alex Carey’s resourceful, brave and skilful 74 off 67, his first innings since March, no less. 270 looked a lot tougher than say 220 and in the end England came nowhere near it in the chase.  

Our theory that Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne were unlikely to replicate their six-hitting exploits proved true (zero between them) but Carey and Mitch Marsh chipped in with three each, they got to 10 and with England’s top order blown away, it was unlikely the middle and lower order would match that, so we lost on the hosts getting the most sixes.   

Elsewhere, Liam Livingstone only got two overs with the ball, surprising since he’d bowled so well before, so that bet was never in contention either.  So we’re ever so slightly in the red for the Series, a rarity, but let’s try and finish on a high note.  

England  

England bowled well up top but didn’t keep it up throughout the whole of Australia’s innings while they did the reverse with the bat, starting poorly only for the middle-order to show some fight.  

Jordan Cox might finally get a game, maybe at the expense of Will Jacks, who got a golden duck. 

Jofra Archer should return with any one of Olly Stone, Mathew Potts or Brydon Carse making away. Potts has been pretty decent in both games so might be the one to keep his place.   

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

Australia  

Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc showed all their class and experience, sharing five wickets between them and reminding us all what Australia were missing in the first match.  

Carey was excellent as we know, while Matt Short and Travis Head made decent starts and skipper Marsh was his usual aggressive self with 60 off 59.  

Cameron Green could return with Matt Short or Labuschagne making way but Australia have said they intend to pick their best XI here as they aim for a clean sweep, so it would be no surprise if they pick the same team that won on Saturday.  

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

Pitch and conditions  

In England’s last three matches here at Chester-le-Street, they beat New Zealand at the 2019 World Cup and Sri Lanka three years ago, though they did lose to South Africa here two years ago.  

Two of those three saw first innings in excess of 300 so it can be a good wicket for batting on. Those two scores of 300+ saw batsmen hitting first innings centuries.  

The weather forecast isn’t great unfortunately with over a 50% chance of rain from the moment the match is meant to start, all the way through to its conclusion at about 9pm. But reduction in overs or not, we’re likely to get a completed match one way or another.  

England vs Australia 3rd ODI Odds

The prices are exactly the same as they were ahead of the second game, meaning Australia are 4/7 and England 11/8.  

Given the Aussies have now won their last 14 in the format and all of their last seven against England, for those reasons alone, we’re not that interested in England’s odds.  

You could easily argue the Aussies are stronger in all three disciplines, so should maybe be even shorter. The ploy of backing Australia at evens (which they did before Carey’s recovery) in-running would have paid off last time and could well work again. 

*You can check out all of our markets and Cricket Odds over at betfred.com

Australia Top Bowler 

Mitchell Starc is a very different sort of Australian fast bowler to the great Glenn McGrath, but he shares with ‘Pigeon’ a love for saving his best for his country’s biggest rivals.  

He snared the big wickets of Jacks and Brook on Saturday before coming back to dismiss Olly Stone, his 3-50 beating the two wickets each of Hazlewood, Aaron Hardie and Glenn Maxwell.  

The left-armer now has 15 wickets in his last six ODIS against England and is bowling well, should bowl all 10 overs and has a great record against this opponent, so the 11/4 looks a pretty fair price on a champion bowler.