We were treated to a thrilling match to start the Mzansi Super League week on Wednesday and hopefully we will be in for more of the same on Thursday when the Tshwane Spartans host the Durban Heat at SuperSport Park in Centurion.
Both these sides have been hampered by the weather so far this season so they will be hoping that the forecasted rain for early in the day blows through in time to get something resembling a full match in here.
Tshwane Spartans
The Spartans have only been able to get one result in from their three matches. That was a win over the Paarl Rocks in a high scoring match and they will be looking to back that up here and launch a challenge for a place in the top two at the very least. The other two matches saw a complete washout in Durban and a clash in Port Elizabeth where they were in a right mess when the rain came down and saved them.
I don’t think there is enough batting depth in this Tshwane outfit but we saw in Paarl last time out that the batting they do have is of the highest quality to get the job done. Where there shouldn’t be such a concern is with the ball, although they did leak a number of runs to the Paarl Rocks so the Spartans will be hoping that is just down to it being their first run out of the competition and that they will improve for the run.
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Durban Heat
Much like their opponents here, the Durban Heat have only completed one match themselves but unlike the Spartans, they lost their clash with the Cape Town Blitz. That isn’t the worst result at the minute as the Blitz have done a good job in the tournament so far, but as we near the halfway mark of the group stage the Heat will be starting to get cut adrift if they are beaten in this match so they will know the importance of it.
If you look at the squad of the Heat the quality of their bowling attack on paper is there for all to see. In many ways they were a little unfortunate in their match with the Blitz as Alex Hales was out in the first over and Dane Vilas didn’t make double figures. Even then they only lost by 10 runs so it wasn’t like they were wiped away. If Hales comes good and their bowlers step up and show their quality the Durban side should be competitive at the very least here.
Betting
I have to admit the price on the Durban Heat is very tempting but I’m not one to bet on the outcome of matches at SuperSport Park too often because it can be a nightmare to defend with the ball travelling further with the altitude and the ground not being the biggest anyway. Throw in the potential for AB de Villiers fireworks and I’ll give that a miss and focus on one of the side markets.
That is the sixes where a line of 11.5 looks a touch on the low side to me. There are some mighty clean hitters of a cricket ball on show here not just in de Villiers but there is Dean Elgar, Heinrich Klaasen, Roelof van de Merwe, Alex Hales, David Miller and Ravi Bopara who can all belt a long ball. The wicket at SuperSport Park is usually extremely good for batting and with the boundaries accessible I would be surprised if we don’t get to a dozen sixes here.
Tips
VOID – Back Over 11.5 sixes for a 4/10 stake at 1.75 with 888sport
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