We will find out who the Cape Town Blitz will play in Sunday’s Mzansi Super League final on Friday night when the Jozi Stars and the Paarl Rocks do battle in Johannesburg for the right to face them at Newlands for the title.
The Stars ran hot towards the end of the tournament to finish second in the table while the Rocks secured a dramatic bonus point win in their final game of the regular campaign to pip the Nelson Mandela Bay Giants into third place.
Sign up to 888sport before Sunday’s huge Premier League match to get 7/1 on a Liverpool win or 40/1 on Man Utd winning! Click the banner above to bet. 18+ T&Cs apply GambleAware
Jozi Stars
Funnily enough when the Jozi Stars have not had Chris Gayle this season we have seen their better cricket. We saw their absolute best last time out against the Tshwane Spartans when they smashed the Spartans bowling attack all around the Bullring and were never in any doubt when in the field looking to defend a huge total.
We saw in that match that they are prepared to innovate with their batting line up and juggle their options around accordingly and I always like to see that from a side. We also saw the inane power they have in their ranks and if that comes out again here they are entitled to be very tough to knock off in this knockout match.
Paarl Rocks
It has been a bit of an up and down campaign for the Paarl Rocks this term but when it really mattered they delivered one of their better performances of the season and that bodes well for them here. Their final regular season match on Wednesday was effectively a knockout game so that should have prepared them for what lies ahead here.
You get the feeling that if the Rocks are going to make it through to the final they are going to need their top order to fire for them. They are also going to have to bowl their socks off but with Dwayne Bravo back around the one thing this side does not lack is experienced cricketers in this format of the game. There are no second chances here but that might suit the Rocks fine.
Team News
Chris Gayle is no longer around for the Jozi Stars so after such an outstanding performance last time out we should expect the home side to be unchanged for this huge clash. It will be interesting to see if Kagiso Rabada goes up the order at any stage.
Paarl Rocks don’t need to make too many changes to their set up either. They will certainly want more of their top order delivering but in the main the men they are using are their best options so they have their hands tied a little.
[the_ad_group id=”3624″]
Betting
As I highlighted the other day this ground is very hard to defend so I can’t really get involved in this match from an outright point of view at least until we know the result of the toss but we saw which wicket was being used for this game while that other one was on and it looks an absolute belter which leads me to one bet.
I’m expecting the boundaries to be peppered here. I’ll take the boundaries rather than the sixes because Paarl have twice let me down on the sixes front with a flurry of fours so I’ll edge on the side of safety here. The line is 39.5 but with the outfield lightning and the ball flying a million miles here I fancy that will be covered. If the pitch plays as well as it looks this will be a high scoring match and one where the boundaries are hit regularly. I’ll play the over.
Tips
VOID – Back Over 39.5 boundaries for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with William Hill
Back it here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2018
