Ashes 2nd Test Prediction: Australia Versus England. Who Will Win?

The second of five Ashes Tests is upon us starting on the 16th of December 2021 at Adelaide, with Indian fans able to catch the beginning of the match from 9:30 IST. Australia thrashed England by nine wickets and have pocketed twelve points in the ICC World Test Championships (2021-2023) to England’s five. This pink ball Test is certainly looking towards another Australian win, but will England bounce back to claim a victory?

Keep reading to find our cricket match prediction and gain insight to the markets we will be watching out for while betting on the Ashes.

Australia Team Preview

Australia will certainly be proud of their emphatic opening series win taking them 1-0 in the best of five in the Ashes series. Following the recent success as T20 World Champions, the mood of Cricket Australia must certainly be flying high.

Fast seamer Josh Hazlewood has been ruled out of the upcoming Test and his presence will surely be missed. The third place holder of the ICC’s bowling rankings sustained a rib injury meaning Jhye Richardson will take his place and will also gain some crucial Test bowling experience.

Given his form at the Gabba, Travis Head could be a solid choice for top run scorer in this test if you are online cricket betting, given that he scored one of the fastest Test centuries and gained Man of the Match from the opening Test.

Batsman Cameron Green stands out to us and could be a player to watch out for this Test. Managing to take out both Ollie Pope and Joe Root in the first and second innings respectively, Green could pose some serious problems for England.

England Team Preview

England knew they would always have a difficult opening game at the Gabba, where their last win at the stadium was in 1986. However given the second test is a day/night game, the pink ball will be out, certainly making this one of their target games to win. They will absolutely be going into this match with the idea they will be victorious if everything goes to plan.

This will be a great opportunity for the first appearance of top bowlers Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson who sat out the first game, and they will be rearing to go. Added to that is seamer Ollie Robinson, who was in form and will have hope to continue to deliver some attacks to Australia’s left-handed batters.

England’s skilled bowling attack will look to upset Australia’s batters. However, England’s batting line up could cause serious problems. While Joe Root is on form, the rest is looking vulnerable and could face similar struggles seen at the Gabba. Pressure is absolutely on the batters to score long partnerships. Scores of under 300 will put them in danger, whereas runs over 400 will give them a solid foundation for the bowlers to attack.

Haseeb Hameed, Ollie Pope, Jos Buttler, and Chris Woakes were the only four batters managed to reach double figures in the first innings at the Gabba, so England really need to get their act together.

England regretted not playing five seamers at the Gabba, which including offspinner Jack Leach who the Aussie’s targeted quite heavily. It will be interesting to see is England will go with five seamers for this Test.

The team have also been reportedly fined by the ICC for failing slow over rate on day two at the Gabba (84 out of the required 98 overs).

Toss Prediction

The last Test saw England choosing to bat after winning the toss. While this gives us some inclination, it’s still not enough for a solid toss prediction. There are still many factors that need to be observed, even taking us to the day of the match, such as the weather.

However, it’s likely that the team who wins the toss will want take advantage of the pitch while it is relatively flat and hard under non-seaming conditions and will want to bat first.

Pitch Conditions

The second Test is scheduled to take place at the Adelaide Oval. This pitch typically favours the batters, and with the right conditions, we could see a high scoring game. The forecast is looking much better than the opening Test, with dry weather and high temperatures over the weekend. Dry, hot weather will definitely lend to a dry pitch with the potential to crack as the days progress. However with the day/night matches, it certainly adds another dimension to Test match cricket.

Our Match Prediction

This will definitely be an interesting match to watch and a tricky one to predict. Australia’s opening win will definitely see them in a confident mood and their winning line-up will be mostly the same, apart from Hazlewood’s being rested.

With Broad and Anderson back, England could put some genuine pressure on the Men Down Under. However, if Australia manage to get some wickets early on and get star players out such as Root and Stokes, then we are likely to see another Australian win. The cricket betting sites seem to agree that Australia are likely to take another victory.