General

Australia 2/5 to win first one-day international

Australia are hot favourites to continue their seemingly unstoppable form with a win against New Zealand in the first game of their five-match one-day series, at Wellington's Westpac Stadium on Saturday

Andrew Hall
18-Feb-2005


New Zealand's Nathan Astle is always dangerous in limited overs cricket and looks the value bet at 10/1 to be the Man of the Match in the first ODI against Australia © Getty Images
Australia are hot favourites to continue their seemingly unstoppable form with a win against New Zealand in the first game of their five-match one-day series, at Wellington's Westpac Stadium on Saturday. Ricky Ponting's men are 2/5 to continue their winning form, while New Zealand are 7/4 outsiders.
The inaugural Chappell-Hadlee Series, in Australia late last year, ended all square at 1-1 after a washout in the deciding match. The other two games were keenly contested - New Zealand won the first by four wickets thanks to a superb 70 from Nathan Astle, then Australia clinched the second as they successfully defended 261.
  • Series page
  • 1st ODI scorecard
  • 2nd ODI scorecard
  • Adam Gilchrist was Australia's leading runscorer then, passing 50 in both matches. Since then, Michael Clarke has very much come to the fore as Australia's most prominent one-day batsman - he was the leading runscorer in the recent VB Series with 411 runs at 68.5.
    Gilchrist: 15/2 Man of the Match, 7/2 Top Australia Batsman
    Clarke: 9/1 Man of the Match, 4/1 Top Australia Batsman
    Astle: 10/1 Man of the Match, 4/1 Top New Zealand Batsman
    Other betting markets
    Highest opening partnership: Australia 8/13, NZ 6/5
    Most match sixes: Australia evens, NZ 7/5
    Player Performances: Symonds 5/6 over 39, McCullum 5/6 over 30
    Useful background information
    Please note that odds are correct at time of publication and are subject to change.