The first ODI in the five match series between South Africa and Sri Lanka takes place in Port Elizabeth on Saturday with both sides looking to draw first blood in the series. Sri Lanka will be looking to build on their win in the T20 series while South Africa will be out to put that right by dominating the ODIs.
South Africa
The Proteas head into this match off the back of six wins in a row in this format which suggests they are getting some momentum going in it but when you break it down and see that the first win was against Ireland and the other five against an Australian side who had left their top choice bowling attack at home you can start to punch holes in that record.
Since those matches South Africa have seen an exodus of players leave their system on the Kolpak criteria with Kyle Abbott probably being the biggest one of those. His absence leaves a hole in their bowling attack while there is no David Wiese to call upon any more either. That exodus might only make this lot even more determined.
Sri Lanka
You can never write Sri Lanka off when limited overs cricket is concerned and who would want to after their series win in the T20s but this is a different style of game and it is only natural to be slightly concerned about their chances. That said they head in here in decent form having won their last series.
Sri Lanka will need to bat well in this series. It was that which let them down last year in England in similar conditions but the T20s showed us that they have a couple of batsmen in good form and it will be interesting to see if they can transfer that form into longer innings to give their side a chance here.
Team News
South Africa are going to be without Lungi Ngidi after he picked up an injury in that final T20. Chris Morris and Kagiso Rabada are both in the squad for this series. AB de Villiers resumes as captain while Hashim Amla also returns.
Sri Lanka have canned Seekkuge Prasanna and Isuru Udana with Jeffrey Vandersay and Lahiru Kamara in contention to play. Upul Tharanga will captain the side as Angelo Mathews misses the series with injury.
St George’s Park
This will be ODI number 39 on this ground and South Africa generally go well here with 19 wins and 11 defeats with a no result in the 31 games they’ve played here. Sri Lanka have a win and three defeats on the ground.
Wickets here tend to be on the slower side and as a result there aren’t many high scoring matches here. That could well keep Sri Lanka interested throughout the game. They put in their best performance in the Test series here.
Betting
I wouldn’t be completely surprised if Sri Lanka pulled off an upset here given the usual conditions on the ground but I want to see how they bat in the 50 over format first before I get involved in them. They are value for anyone who wants to risk a few quid at a big price though.
I’m going to head to the performance markets for this match and the player in question is Nuwan Kulasekara. The sluggish nature of this wicket should suit his medium pace seam up bowling where he can move it both ways and I would expect him to get a bat at some point in the match too.
We’ve seen him put up some significant scores with the bat in the past and a combination of his bat and his bowling efforts should be enough to see him beyond 30.5pts. A good day with either bat or ball and he definitely will cover it so I like the overs on his performance.
Tips
Back N.Kulasekara’s Performance – Over 30.5pts for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
Back him here:
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