Pakistan begin a limited overs tour of South Africa on Friday which gets underway with the first ODI in Centurion on Friday. This is the first of three ODIs in this series which means that the winner will be on the hill of claiming the spoils.
As well as a series in its own right, as with all ODI series these days this one goes towards qualification for the 2023 World Cup so there is a little more on these matches than there might ordinarily be.
South Africa
This will be the first ODI series that South Africa will have been a part of since the Covid-19 pandemic began. So much has changed in the entire world in that time as well as a cricketing one and that is the case for South Africa as well as they will begin this series with a new ODI captain in the form of Temba Bavuma. He will be looking to get off to a winning start as captain but if he is to win his first series in charge he may need to win the first two matches as a lot of his stars depart for the IPL after game two.
This will be just the seventh ODI that South Africa have played since the previous World Cup. Their showing there was dismal to say the least so they will be looking to show some improvement over the course of this series. By and large you’re guaranteed a decent bowling performance from the Proteas but their batting can be a little too hit or miss for comfort. That is the area that they have to target if they are to challenge in 2023.
Pakistan
Pakistan haven’t exactly been overactive in this format of the game in recent times either. This will be just the second series they have played since the pandemic brought a halt to the sport. The first was against Zimbabwe so you could offer up the thought that this is their first real series since then. It is an important one too as Pakistan are one of those nations whose form can be cold enough over a period of time whereby they could fail to qualify for the World Cup if they are not careful.
They are very much like their opponents here. They usually offer up very good bowling performances but their batting displays can let them down from time to time. I would argue that since the Pakistan Super League elevated in status since its return to Pakistan that they are finding better batsmen and in time they will be more consistent with the bat. That offers up a positive outlook for a side who could be dangerous in Asian conditions in 2023.
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Team News
Mark Boucher has confirmed that new captain Temba Bavuma will bat at three so that is likely to mean that Aiden Markram will miss out. The likes of Kagiso Rabada, Quinton de Kock, David Miller and Amrich Nortje are only around for the first two games.
The Pakistan squad is a little younger than we would normally expect but it does include the classy Babar Azam and a Mohammad Rizwan who was in excellent form when Pakistan hosted South Africa recently. Shaheen Afridi is also in the squad while Hasan Ali is expected to be fit if selected.
Betting
Usually at SuperSport Park we are used to seeing a decent batting wicket and plenty of runs but we have to remember that this series is at the end of a pretty long summer and so the wickets are likely to be tired and as the air cools down the ball isn’t likely to zip through as much so I think this could be a rare occasion where actually this is a lower scoring match. The conditions are one reason but we also have to factor in that Pakistan haven’t had a warm up match so they are coming in here a little rusty.
The other reason why I think we’ll see a lower scoring game than we might be used to seeing is the fact that both bowling attacks perform significantly more consistently than the batting line ups that they share a team with. I expect that to be even more the case on these kind of wickets so all in all I’m not expecting much in terms of a high scoring game. The runs line for this encounter is up at 567.5 runs which feels too high to me.
Tips
WON – Back Under 567.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Betway
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