South Africa were comfortable winners of the opening ODI of their series with Sri Lanka on Saturday and they will be aiming for a repeat of that when the two teams meet for the second match of the five in Durban on Wednesday.
Sri Lanka will be desperate to put that defeat behind them and get back to the form which saw them win the T20 series and hopefully get the win which will level the series. Were they to lose here they would be 2-0 down with three to play and it is a long way back from there.
South Africa
I would imagine given what happened in the T20 series that South Africa will have been delighted with their performance in Port Elizabeth. It has to be said that they named a stronger squad for the ODI series but even so they dominated from the start and while it is questionable how much danger Sri Lanka provide, any that could come was snuffed out quickly.
In fairness even in the T20s it wasn’t their bowling that was the issue it was their batsmen so they will have been pleased for the likes of Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis to get runs although their absence in the T20s were only highlighted further with their 50s in the opening match of this series.
Sri Lanka
The age old issue for Sri Lanka on this tour resurfaced in Port Elizabeth. They have simply been blown away with the bat by this ultra-strong South African bowling attack. They got away with it slightly against the weaker attack in the T20s but there is no hiding place here and their batsmen are going to have to stand up and be counted and quickly.
To be fair Sri Lanka ploughed away with the ball even though they were defending nothing in terms of a score and despite the fact that conditions were not to their liking but the simple fact is they don’t have the tools at their disposal to dominate so if canniness and variety doesn’t get it done you do fear for the tourists.
Team News
South Africa are not making any noises about making changes and I wouldn’t think that would surprise too many people given their dominance in the opening match.
Sri Lanka might be forced into a change with the ball. Lahiru Kumara is a possibility to come in should Sri Lanka want some extra pace. He could be the only change.
Kingsmead
This will be the 43rd ODI on this famous Durban ground. South Africa have played 34 times here with 19 wins to ten defeats with four no results and a tie. Sri Lanka have played here twice, losing the first time around and then drawing that infamous match when South Africa messed up the D/L total in the World Cup of 2003.
South Africa have won their last four here which includes chasing down 371 in the last match on this ground. It is generally a high scoring ground with short enough boundaries to be exploited.
Betting
I need a see a lot more from Sri Lanka before I go into one of these matches expecting a genuine contest but there aren’t many markets we are going to get rich by backing South Africa in.
One such market though is in the first 10 overs where they have a target of 53.5 which I do believe is achievable. This is a fast scoring ground especially with the new ball and with South Africa having a deep batting line up in this format of the game I’m expecting them to get off to a flyer here. If they do that then I would expect them to be around a run a ball through the powerplay which is enough to cover this total.
Tips
WON – Back South Africa’s first 10 overs – Over 53.5 runs for a 4/10 stake at 1.95 with Coral
Back them here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2017
