Results aplenty if you want a long-range Ashes flutter

Exactly a year from now, England and Australia will be resuming hostilities as the first Test of the 2017-18 Ashes series gets underway, and to judge by both teams' form in their respective series against India and South Africa, there will be plenty of batting collapses on both sides and plenty of results.

That's certainly how the folk at Bet365 see it, with Australia a not-outlandish 22/1 to repeat their 5-0 whitewashing of England in the 2013-14 tour, but only 125/1 to win the series by a 1-0 scoreline.

England are deemed even more unlikely to emerge from the tour with a 1-0 series win - they are priced at 175/1 to achieve that feat, and seeing as the last such scoreline was way back in 1975 (Australia were the winners on that occasion), this seems entirely fair.

So, what of the more mid-range scorelines? England, on current form, are as close to favourites for a tour of Australia as they can ever hope to be. They are currently 13/5 to win the series outright, but 11/8 to retain the Ashes (which they would achieve in the event of a draw).

And, in keeping with the bookmaker's belief that results will be plentiful, the 2-2 scoreline, at 6/1, is deemed far more likely than 1-1 (20/1) or 0-0, which is a Headingley-esque 500-1.

So, if you fancy a long-distance flutter, and believe that England aren't quite as bad as their current travails in India would suggest, then the value would appear to lie in backing England for a hefty victory.

They've never beaten Australia 5-0 in any series, but their odds of doing so are a tantalising 150/1 - which is surely worth a speculative tenner. You'll have forgotten about it come this time next year. A 4-1 win to England is 50/1 (compared to 8/1 for Australia), while a repeat of their 3-1 scoreline from 2010-11 is 16/1 (Australia are 5/1).

Two other factors to consider - one of the contests is likely to take place under lights, which may disrupt Australia's traditional home advantages (albeit they've won both their matches with the pink ball to date). And secondly, England's bogey ground, the WACA in Perth, may be out of service with a new stadium set to be launched.