The eagerly awaited first Test match between Australia and South Africa gets underway on Thursday with all eyes on the WACA in Perth to see how these two sides shape up with two more matches to play after this one.
The ICC Test rankings might not say it but this is one of those heavyweight battles we don’t see so much of in the modern game so a hard fought Test match is almost a certainty.
Australia
The home side head into the series in good spirits and by and large with a full strength side available to them which is totally different to what they had at their disposal in the ODI series in South Africa recently. With that in mind we shouldn’t look too much into that series and instead should focus on the here and now.
Traditionally this is a ground Australia like although it will be interesting to see how they go on it with this being the first Test of the summer, a tradition usually saved for Brisbane. Mitchell Starc will need to stand up for them and all eyes will be on him after he has been out injured recently.
South Africa
The tourists are taking this series seriously as evidenced by the fact that they have had two warm up matches and given everyone who needed time in the middle enough to feel comfortable in these surroundings. That should have tuned them up nicely to begin a quest for a third successive series win in Australia.
We all know the quality of the South African bowling attack so the outcome of both this match and the series could very well come down to how well South Africa bat and if they can get off to good starts they have a number of players who can take matches away from sides even in the absence of the injured AB de Villiers.
Team News
Australia have already confirmed their side with Peter Siddle getting the job as the third seamer ahead of Joe Mennie who has been announced as the 12th man. Shaun Marsh will open the batting in place of the dropped Joe Burns.
South Africa are without de Villiers so their batting line up is pretty much locked in. Their sole selection decision is whether to play Morne Morkel as the extra seamer to maybe include the specialist spinner. With JP Duminy and Dean Elgar around the seamer could be the way to go.
WACA Ground
This famous old ground has staged 42 Test matches although it won’t be staging many more with the new ground being built in the city. Australia’s record here is very healthy with 24 wins to just 10 defeats with the eight draws. Unlike some touring sides though South Africa don’t mind it here. They have two wins and a draw from three outings.
The wicket here is famous for the pace and bounce it has in it and as such urban myth would suggest that favours the bowlers but actually the batsmen get full value for their shots and when they get in they can score runs so we should get a good cricket wicket to begin the series on.
Betting
I’m going to take three in this opener although I’m going to leave the match betting alone to begin with. Once we’ve seen how the wicket is playing I might do a short preview during the match with a punt on the match market.
To start with though I’m going to take South Africa to lead after the first innings. I like their bowling attack more in this match and I’m slightly concerned about a couple of the Australian batsmen not least Shaun Marsh who has never completely convinced at this level. His brother Mitchell is hit and miss too and Australia’s tail begins at eight.
South Africa have a very strong and long batting line up with Quinton de Kock at seven and Vernon Philander at eight and the likes of Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis can rack up runs for fun too. If Mitchell Starc struggles so soon after returning from injury South Africa could well get away from Australia before halfway.
Before that happens though I like the look of Dave Warner to cover a first innings handicap of 3.5 against Stephen Cook. Cook has scores of 5, 12 and 0 on this tour so far and that isn’t going to inspire confidence. Dave Warner absolutely loves this ground. He averages 95.85 here with previous first innings scores of 180, 112 and 253 so he fills his boots here. We saw in South Africa recently that this attack doesn’t stunt his run flow so Warner should outscore his opponent comfortably.
Finally I’m going to go with the performance of Kagiso Rabada who has a perfectly achievable line at 104.5. In theory that requires six wickets to cover but he’s an astute enough batsman that he can knock off the loose five with the bat so I’m going on the provision that he needs five wickets. That is definitely within his compass but should he eek a few more with the bat or snatch a catch somewhere we might even get this done with four wickets. All of that leads me to the overs.
Tips
Back South Africa 1st Inns Lead for a 4/10 stake at 2.38 with Skybet
Back it here:
WON – Back D.Warner (-3.5 runs) to beat S.Cook in the 1st Inns for a 5/10 stake at 1.75 with Coral
Back him here:
WON – Back K.Rabada’s Performance – Over 104.5pts for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
Back him here:
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