Australia still ICC Champions favourites after shaky win

Australia will take on England in the ICC Champions Trophy on Friday after a nervy two-wicket victory over Pakistan.

Brett Lee and Nathan Hauritz were the heroes for Australia, holding on at the wicket to drag Ricky Ponting's men past the required total.

Australia are now the 2.30 favourites for the tournament with Sportsbet, just ahead of Pakistan on 3.10, with England on 5.25.

The last of the semi-finalists, New Zealand, stand on 5.75 with the same bookmaker.

Australia will be confident going into Friday's tie given they rolled over England 6-1 in a recent ODI series following The Ashes.

Sportsbet has them as the clear favourites for the tie, on 1.55, even though England have improved throughout the competition, knocking out pre-tournament favourites and hosts South Africa.

Ricky Ponting said of the latest clash with England: "We've just come from a really good series against them over there, but it's different conditions here to what we confronted over there and they've been playing some pretty good cricket of late."

Sportsbet is also offering online cricket betting odds on who will rack up the biggest batting total for Australia on Friday, with Ponting the favourite on 3.80, ahead of Shane Watson, Michael Hussey and Tim Paine, all on 5.00.