Australia v England fifth Ashes Test predictions and cricket betting tips

Free cricket tips, best bets and analysis for Friday's fifth Ashes Test between Australia and England in Hobart.

Where to watch

BT Sport 1, 4am Friday

Best bets

Pat Cummins top Australia first-innings wicket-taker
2pts 5-2 Betfair

Zak Crawley to score over 17.5 first-innings runs
4pts 5-6 Hills

David Warner top Australia first-innings runscorer
1pt 7-2 Betfred

Team news

Australia
Josh Hazlewood remains sidelined and fellow fast bowler Mitchell Starc may be rested after playing the first four Tests. Usman Khawaja scored two centuries at the SCG so Australia may have to leave out opener Marcus Harris if they want to recall Travis Head.

England
Jos Buttler (finger) is out while Ben Stokes (side strain) and Jonny Bairstow (thumb) are doubts. Wicketkeeper Sam Billings, who has joined the squad from Big Bash side Sydney Thunder, is in line for a Test debut.

Fifth Test preview

England's cricketers should not expect a 2005-style party in Trafalgar Square on their return from Australia, but avoiding a 5-0 series defeat is an achievement of sorts for Joe Root's men.

The whitewash was odds-on after the third Test, in which the Aussies bowled out England for 68 at the MCG, but a spirited final-day batting performance in Sydney last week earned England a draw, scuppering the plunge on a 5-0 correct score.

Australia didn't do much wrong at the SCG, falling just one wicket short of victory after Usman Khawaja's twin centuries helped set England an unlikely target of 388.

Indeed, the tourists deserve credit for battling back, having slipped to 36-4 in reply to Australia's first-innings score of 416-8 declared. Jonny Bairstow (113) and Ben Stokes (66), the architects of that recovery, are both struggling with injuries going into the day-night fifth Test in Hobart and Jos Buttler has been ruled out.

Buttler faced 207 balls for his second-innings 26 as England attempted to save the second Test in Adelaide, where Australia eventually sealed their ninth win in nine day-night matches.

The final Test, moved to Hobart from Perth due to Covid-19 restrictions, gives the Aussies the chance to make it ten in a row in pink-ball Tests and, with the draw on the drift due to an improving weather forecast, they are solid favourites.

Khawaja's stunning return to the Test side means Australia are struggling to get Travis Head, who set the tone for the series with 152 in the first Test in Brisbane, back into the 11 and Scott Boland, Jhye Richardson, Michael Neser and Cameron Green have demonstrated the depth of their bowling talent in this series.

For the final game, though, it may pay to side with triumphant captain Pat Cummins, who has bowled beautifully throughout the series.

The home skipper has claimed 5-38, 3-36 and 2-68 in the first innings of the three matches he has played and his career-best match figures of 10-62 came in a day-night Test against Sri Lanka in 2019.

England's Zak Crawley coped superbly with Cummins and the rest of the Aussie attack in Sydney, timing the ball brilliantly in an eyecatching 77 off 100 balls on a fifth-day pitch.

Depending on when England bat he could face testing conditions in Hobart but a runs line of 17.5 looks too low for a player brimming with confidence after his SCG knock. Crawley made 53 against India in Ahmedabad in the first innings of his only previous day-night match.

Aussie opener David Warner is at the opposite end of his career to the 23-year-old Crawley and he will be desperate to do well in what is likely to be his final home Ashes Test.

The left-hander has first-innings scores of 95, 94, 38 and 30 in this series, made a career-best 335 not out in a pink-ball Test against Pakistan in 2019, and has scored three fifties and a century in seven innings at Hobart's Bellerive Oval.

Weather forecast

Showers could disrupt play on the first three days, particularly in the evening session, but days four and five should be dry. Temperatures range from 19C to 25C.

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