The ODI series between Ireland and South Africa finishes in Dublin on Friday and it does so on what could be a pivotal day in Irish cricket as the home side go in search of a 2-0 series win and a statement of intent ahead of the World Cup in two years.
South Africa really need to start winning in the 50 over format and will be shell-shocked after losing the second game of the series on Tuesday. They need to win to get a share of the series but more importantly to pick up World Cup Super Series points.
Ireland
I think it is fair to say that Ireland took a little bit of a risk in the second match to leave out William Porterfield who played so well in the first game, but they would have been delighted with the result as they dominated the match from start to finish really. They showed the value of taking their time and setting a platform with the bat and then exploded to a perfectly acceptable total, one which they had few problems defending in the end.
There is always going to be a few concerns over their bowlers because that the weakness to their game, certainly in terms of depth because as it was their first choice bowlers went perfectly well. If their batsmen can continue to put up decent scores then there is the making of a decent side for Ireland here. They have some really top class batsmen who don’t panic so although we’ve only seen them set a score in this series, you get the impression that should they need to chase a score down they will have it in them.
South Africa
I’m not sure whether it was a poor performance from South Africa in that last game or just a sign of where they are in ODI cricket these days. It doesn’t look good when you rest arguably your best batsman and don’t get the job done so you wouldn’t think they would make that mistake again. That suggests they might have taken their opponents a little lightly but that would have been a pretty foolish thing to do given that Ireland were going nicely in the opening match until the rain came.
Where South Africa would have been really disappointed is with the ball. They looked like they were controlling the Irish batting with ease in that second game but it turned out all they were allowing Ireland to do was set up a grandstand finish and when that arrived they didn’t really have the answers for it. If the Proteas are going to get a share of the series then they are simply going to have to deliver much more in all departments of the game.
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Team News
Ireland will look to see about bringing William Porterfield back into their side but when you look at how they batted in the previous game there is a clear case for leaving things as they are so Ireland could be unchanged.
South Africa are expected to bring Quinton de Kock back into their ranks for this match. He will most likely replace Aidan Markram unless they want another spin option in which case he could come back for Andile Phehlukwayo.
Betting
I took the runs line in the previous match and it was covered quite comfortably but despite how easily it was covered the line has only gone up three runs for this game. I just wonder if that is because bookmakers think the Irish batting performance in that last game was a one off but it definitely wasn’t. We only need to go back to last summer and that fantastic run chase against England at the Ageas Bowl to know that isn’t the case.
It might be that South Africa’s batting was so poor in the previous game that were they to bat first there is no guarantee they would make the 245 runs that would be needed for this bet to have any chance but I don’t expect them to bat that badly again whether they bat first or second, particularly if Quinton de Kock returns to the side. However the match plays out and whoever wins, I’m pretty happy that we will see more than 490.5 runs.
Tips
Back Over 490.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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