That England is down 0-3 in the series can be attributed to many a factors, none greater than the fact that the Ashes triumph seemed to have taken all the intensity from their cricket. James Anderson said it in as many words, so did Paul Collingwood, and the effect of the same has been seen in the series so far.
The Aussies, on the other hand, would have smelled the blood after the very first game when they would have had seen the sudden drop in performance at the other end. In the test matches, the English side had come hard at the Aussies, but the ODIs seem to have shown a very different, almost an indifferent aspect of the hosts.
This is probably the one reason why Betfair offers 1.64 for an Australian win, hot favourites as against the 2.55 offered by Bwin for the hosts salvaging something out of the series and making it 3-1. England will also know that a loss here would end their hopes of winning the series, and they will do well to shrug off the lethargy and get going with the bat. The top order hasn’t yet fired and that has been one of the reasons for the aforementioned odds – apart from the fact that they haven’t won a single game! With Collingwood rested, Ravi Bopara will continue to remain in the side, especially if Joe Denly continues to remain out of the side with his injury.
The Aussies will look to take full advantage of the situation, and with Ricky Ponting back into their squad, life couldn’t get better! 4-0 looks definitely on cards!