England vs. Australia Ashes Fourth Test Betting Specials

England kept the Ashes alive with a spectacular victory over Australia in the Third Test at Headingley, now the cricketing juggernaut moves to Old Trafford with the visiting Aussies still in the ascendency having won the opening two Test matches.

An inspired performance by Mark Wood was the catalyst for England’s victory in Yorkshire, and with all 22 players having had a week off, they head to the home of Lancashire County Cricket Club refreshed and raring to go in what could be a potential rain-affected five days in the north-west.

Even so, our in-house tipster Steve Chambers has taken a look at some of the most eye-catching betting specials and picked out his three best bets for the Fourth Test match, which starts at 11am on Wednesday morning.

James Anderson may not have had the Ashes series he had hoped for, having struggled in the opening two Test matches (3 wickets, 226 runs conceded), he was then rested for the Headingley victory, but he will return in the place of Ollie Robinson for the fourth Test and he will be eager to make an impact.

Playing on his home ground of Lancashire a few days from his 41st birthday, Anderson could well be suited by the likely overcast conditions at Old Trafford and the few weeks rest could have given him the chance to work on his game and come back firing on all cylinders for this.

Yet to get a 5fer on his home ground in Test cricket (best of 4-38), Anderson will be desperate to change that on his likely last Test match on home soil and while all eyes will be on the aforementioned Wood, who bowled rockets at Headingley, Anderson could give the Aussie batting line-up lots to think about and the boosted 10/1 for Anderson to get over 4 wickets in the first innings is too good to let go.

While Mark Wood took up most of the column inches for his rip-snorting 5fer in the first innings of the third test and also his swashbuckling batting cameos, Chris Woakes silently showed why he deserves a place in this Test team and on home soil he is surely now a must-pick for the remainder of the series.

The Warwickshire paceman not only showed tremendous skills with ball in hand, but he hit an excellent 32 off 44 balls to help England win the match with the bat. Well, Woakes, who has often been a relatively circumspect batsman at the crease appears to have been given licence and he was often seen swinging at the hip to try and hit the ball to the boundary.

While Wood’s six-hitting exploits have earned him a price of 14/1 to hit the most 6s in the match, Woakes is an eye-bulging 50/1 shot, and while it’s a huge outsider, if England could get some decent runs on the board then he could well look to make the Australia bowlers pay with some hefty blows over the rope.

It’s not up for debate who the best two batsmen are in this Ashes series as Joe Root and Steve Smith have already bagged themselves a century apiece this summer and the pair will look to be the mainstay of their side’s innings at Old Trafford.

William Hill have dangled a little carrot as they are offering the attractive odds for 14/1 for both Root and Smith to hit a century in the match, and if both can get through the first stages of their innings then they could well cruise to three figures and help their side post decent scores for the opposition to try and match.