South Africa and Zimbabwe have put the 50 over format behind them and the neighbours will finish their battles with three T20 clashes, the first of which takes place in East London on Tuesday evening.
South Africa dominated the ODI series so Zimbabwe will be hoping that the shortest format of the game brings the two sides closer together to allow them to be a lot more competitive before they head back home.
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South Africa
It is quite rare to see South Africa playing a bunch of T20 matches but they have responded to the opportunity by naming a pretty strong squad which suggests that they mean business in these three matches, despite some really big cricket coming up. There is no World T20 for a couple of years so they could easily have sacked these matches off and focused on what is to come.
I said it in the ODI series and I’ll say it again here, South Africa need to start showing there is life after AB de Villiers with the bat. They never delivered anything of note with the bat in the 50 over matches and while a couple of very indifferent wickets never helped them, they did nothing to silence the growing band of doubters.
Zimbabwe
In terms of top level T20 action Zimbabwe are quite inexperienced so these three matches will allow them to push on in their development. They showed good signs at times in the ODI series but could not sustain their good periods for long enough to make a winning impact. The shorter format should give them a better chance of doing that here which could be key.
I was impressed with the Zimbabwean bowlers in the ODI series and if they can use the same skills in this series then I wouldn’t be completely surprised if they win a match along the way. They played their best stuff in the latest ODI which suggests they are warming to conditions and with this format suiting their batting better we should get a competitive showing.
Team News
South Africa rested David Miller and Quinton de Kock for the ODI series but the pair are both back for these three matches. Rassie van der Dussen could come into the side after impressing in T20 competitions throughout the summer.
Zimbabwe have brought Chamu Chibhabha into their squad for these three matches with Craig Ervine said to be making way for him. Solomon Mire is expected to keep his place despite a poor run in the 50 over matches.
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Betting
I’m expecting a much more competitive match than we saw in the ODI matches with the format allowing the Zimbabwe batting to showcase their skills with less of a fear of being bowled out cheaply and as such I think we will see a number of boundaries in the match.
Zimbabwe’s two best batsmen both scored runs in the final ODI which should help them here while this East London wicket is usually good for batting and the boundaries are pretty short which is obviously important. The boundaries line is 35.5 in this match and with South Africa resting Kagiso Rabada I think Zimbabwe will contribute well enough for that line to be covered.
Tips
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