The Super 12 Group 1 section of the T20 World Cup 2021 concludes on Saturday afternoon when England take on South Africa in a massive final game of the group at the tiny ground in Sharjah on a huge day for the Proteas.
Barring one of the biggest collapses you would ever see, England are already into the semi-final and could be confirmed as such if West Indies have won the earlier match. South Africa have to win here to make progress and if Australia win the early game then South Africa will have to win big to go through.
England
I would imagine Eoin Morgan is delighted with the tournament his team have had so far. They have won four matches out of four and haven’t really been challenged in any of them except for 10 overs in their last game against Sri Lanka. England have won chasing scores and they have won setting scores so there should be an enormous amount of confidence about them heading into a likely semi-final next week.
If there is a concern for England then it might come in the fact that not much of the lower part of their middle order have had real time in the middle such has been the dominance they have shown so far in the tournament. The big thing for England though is key players like Jos Buttler, Adil Rashid and Jason Roy are in good form and you just wonder if there is even more to come from England. They will be out to win this and go into the semis in emphatic style.
South Africa
If you are a South Africa fan there was always a fear that the ordinary first innings they played in this tournament was going to come back to haunt them and they might well be the case unless they can win this match and win it big. It allowed Australia to steal a march on them and while South Africa have looked much the better team since those two met in the first game of the Super 12 stage, the Aussies keep getting over the line meaning South Africa need to do what no other team has done here.
Clearly South Africa are going to have to go hard with the bat in this match and that isn’t ideal because their batting hasn’t really fired as a complete unit yet. The three matches they have won have largely been based around an excellent bowling effort but if those bowlers could find a way to get the deeper England middle order to the crease it might give South Africa the chance to do something a little bit special.
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Key Men
Incredibly there are still people arguing whether Jos Buttler is the best white ball cricketer England have ever had. There is no argument on that front and his century against Sri Lanka on this ground underlined that. If he gets going here South Africa are in trouble.
Anrich Nortje is the leading wicket taker for South Africa in this tournament and it is imperative if they are going to have a chance of not just winning the match but winning it by a margin they need to that he takes early wickets and slows this England juggernaut down.
Betting
I can’t be betting on the outcome of a match where one team doesn’t need to win but only lose by a certain amount while the other might not just need to win but win by the better part of a landslide in order to make it into the semi-final. Clearly England would normally be worthy favourites but with the forced change from Tymal Mills to most likely Mark Wood there is a bit of shuffling to be done there and ultimately England don’t have to win so I’m off to the side markets for a bet here.
Given the situation of the match over 31.5 boundaries looks a good bet to me. England went absolutely nowhere for 10 overs against Sri Lanka here on Monday and there were still 35 boundaries in the match and South Africa can’t just dab the ball around here if Australia have already won. Even if they haven’t South Africa will need plenty of runs to keep up with this England side. It doesn’t seem to matter who bowls at England they are all going round the park so there should be a high chance of the boundaries landing here.
I’ll also take a chance on Liam Livingstone being the man of the match. There has to be a good chance that he will go up the order to get him some time at the crease with him only having faced two balls in the four matches England have played so far. If that happens he has the chance to go big on a ground that certainly isn’t big enough to contain him. The other string to his bow is his bowling against a side who traditionally don’t play spin as well as they might do. Livingstone has taken a wicket in each innings he’s bowled in at this tournament and if you put the two together he might be the leading light in this match.
Tips
Back Over 31.5 boundaries for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with William Hill
Back it here:
Back L.Livingstone Man of the Match for a 1/10 stake at 17.00 with Bet365
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