South Africa will go in search of a series whitewash when they take on Sri Lanka in the final ODI of their five match series in Centurion on Friday. Sri Lanka were finally competitive in the series for the first time in Cape Town on Tuesday. That has raised hopes that they could end their tour with a consolation victory or at the very least ensure a competitive conclusion to the series.
South Africa
South Africa’s performance in the fourth ODI in Cape Town was a little Jekyll and Hyde in that they were superb with the bat but for the first 30 overs of their bowling effort they weren’t as good although the Sri Lanka batsmen had a lot to do with that. To their credit the bowlers turned around what was fast becoming a losing situation to keep the whitewash alive.
Whether it was complacency after putting up a big score and Sri Lanka having offered little in the series to that point or whether it was simply being outplayed for 30 overs I’m sure the Proteas will be looking to avoid a repeat of that and they should be much more focused in order to complete the whitewash they have publicly declared that they are after.
Sri Lanka
Once again the Sri Lanka bowlers toiled hard in Cape Town but everybody realises that they just don’t have the firepower to get into this South African batting line up. Even when they do make early inroads there isn’t the depth to maintain the pressure on the batsmen and invariably that leads to South Africa making hay later in the innings.
It took a while but Sri Lanka finally batted how we have come to expect them to do on this tour. Upul Tharanga led from the front and his partnership with Niroshan Dickwella was a joy to watch and there was a time where it genuinely looked likely that they would chase down 368. If they can play with that same freedom and aggressive intent they might yet leave South Africa with something.
Team News
It is unlikely on this small ground that South Africa will play two spinners so we can expect Andile Phehlukwayo to come back into the side. Tabraiz Shamsi would be the obvious one to be left out with South Africa actively chasing the whitewash but Imran Tahir has played a lot of cricket.
Given that he has been left out of Sri Lanka’s T20 squad for the tour of Australia there is no real reason to believe that Dinesh Chandimal will return. Lahiru Kumara’s series could be over having gone the distance in Cape Town.
SuperSport Park
This is a landmark match on this ground. It will be the 50th ODI to be staged here. As with all the venues used in this series South Africa’s record here is very strong. They have 23 wins with just 11 defeats and a no result from 35 matches while Sri Lanka have won just one of their four games here.
This is a high scoring ground. The lowest first innings score in the last five matches here has been 294/9 and that was chased down with over 13 overs to go. The ground is at altitude and the boundaries are pretty small so another high scoring game lies in store.
Betting
I don’t want to go too mad given that this is a dead rubber but it has the potential to be more competitive than some series finales given that South Africa are chasing the whitewash and Sri Lanka will be desperate to avoid it so with that in mind I will play the stats on a few bets.
I was going to take Sri Lanka to have the highest 10 over score line they have had in the last two matches but I’m wary of the exceptional record Quinton de Kock has on this ground so in the end I’ll take Sri Lanka’s 10 over total where the line is a very low looking 50.5. They have covered that in all three matches since Upul Tharanga moved up to open and were 100/0 after 10 overs in the previous match. Given this is a high scoring ground at altitude I’m expecting Sri Lanka to soar past 50 in the powerplay again.
Given that both sides showed good attacking intent with the bat in Cape Town I expect to see the sixes flow here. This is a tiny ground and the sixes totals going backwards from most recent here have been 20, 17, 14 and 26 with South Africa putting up 10 in their innings before the rain came in the match before that. Those statistics combined with the new lease of life and confidence Sri Lanka have with the bat leads me to think we’ll see a dozen sixes or more here.
I hinted at de Kock’s record on this ground above. He has three centuries from five ODIs here including a ballistic 178 against Australia in September. In total he averages 86.60 on the ground in ODI cricket and his return to form in the previous match leads me to a small bet on him to top score for the home side in this one.
Tips
WON – Back Sri Lanka’s 1st 10 Overs – Over 50.5 runs for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Coral
WON – Back Over 11.5 sixes for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Coral
Back them here:
Back Q.de Kock Top South Africa Batsman for a 2/10 stake at 3.75 with William Hill
Back him here:
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