May be worth taking a punt on Bollinger

Original preview
Much of the talk in the build-up to this Ashes series has surrounded the effectiveness - or perhaps ineffectiveness - of Australia's attack. If they are to regain the Ashes they are going to need to take 20 wickets on at least two occasions, you'd have thought, and the problem for home fans is that it's tough to see where they are going to come from.

In this instance, however, we are not concerned with that; only which of them will take the most wickets as we examine the leading Australia wicket-taker market, for which Bet365 make Mitchell Johnson and Ben Hilfenhaus joint favourites at 11/4.

Now all this generation of Australia bowlers have to compete with the fact that until they produce another all-time great, they will all be continually compared with Shen Warne and Glenn McGrath, two of the best ever and two men who made England's life hell for a decade.

But they are long gone and the current generation are good, but not great. However, playing at home should make them feel more comfortable and it will be fascinating to see which of them deals best with the pressure that an Ashes series can bring.

Mitchell Johnson was widely considered to have been one of the reasons England managed to win the Ashes back in 2009, due to his inconsistency and his inability to maintain the pressure on the home side's batsmen. There is some truth in that but in terms of the figures, he still managed to take 20 wickets in the series and that's after an awful start to the five matches.

He has not managed to recapture the form he showed when he first came on the scene but he will always take wickets, with his left-armers always likely to cause the batsmen problems. If he were in better, more consistent form, he would be a big favourite for this market so when you think that he averages well over four wickets a Test, he could prove to be excellent at value at 11/4.

Ben Hilfenhaus is a steady, un-flashy bowler, who make England's batsmen work for their runs but I don't see him as a prolific wicket-taker. In his 13 Tests to date, he has managed 48 wickets but he is going to be used to force England into mistakes rather than rip through sides. At 11/4 he looks too short.

If anyone is going to threaten Johnson in this market, it's Doug Bollinger, who has taken 49 wickets in 11 matches, at the best rate of any of the seamers in the likely side for Brisbane. He has yet to face England in a Test so may be something of an unknown quantity but he is a good bowler, as well as being the most economical in their side. At 7/2 he could see plenty of interest.

Peter Siddle has plenty of pace but he's still coming back from injury and I don't see him playing enough of the five Tests to get a look in, while Xavier Doherty, given the nod over Nathan Hauritz for Brisbane, is playing his first Test and unless he is another Warne, will find it tough to take more wickets than Johnson.

In the end, I think it comes down to a question of how well Johnson bowls. If he bowls decently, he will come out on top, which makes the 11/4 look remarkably good value when you think that he is up against a distinctly average bunch.