Australia finally ended their horrible run in ODI cricket with victory over South Africa in Adelaide on Friday and so on Sunday the two sides will meet to decide the ODI series in the third and final match in Hobart on Sunday.
In the grand scheme of things this match and series doesn’t mean a great deal but there is a World Cup looming on the horizon and both these sides are likely to contend for that tournament so the chance to lay a mental marker down shouldn’t be taken lightly.
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Australia
It was all about getting the win for Australia on Friday and so credit should go to them for achieving that but I’m sure they will realise that there were plenty of flaws in their performance. On the bright side they have another match to put some things right but once again you get the feeling the result is more important to them rather than the performance.
If Australia want to showcase their best stuff then they have to find more with the bat. In the modern world you have to be putting up 300 regularly or at the very least you need to be threatening it but in truth they don’t look like getting to that sort of score at the minute. That has to change if they are to have any chance in the World Cup next summer.
South Africa
Once again the big issue for South Africa has reared its head in this series. Their middle order just does not look like it has the confidence to put up significant runs in the absence of AB de Villiers. They have some good players in that part of their batting line up but we really are seeing just how good de Villiers was now that he has gone.
The South African bowling attack will always keep them in the mix in matches but as with Australia, if South Africa are going to win the World Cup they must get back to making 300+ scores. More importantly they need to find a couple of middle order batsmen who are going to take on the mantle of scoring big runs to get them pushing 300. A lack of genuine batting power in the middle is killing them.
Team News
There is no real need for Australia to make changes for this match but if they want to rotate their seamers with this match just 48hrs after the previous one they have Nathan Coulter-Nile in reserve to come in for someone.
South Africa need to change their batting line up but that doesn’t look like it is going to happen in this match so unless they bring Andile Phehlukwayo back into the side they may well be unchanged even in defeat.
Bellerive Oval
There have been 35 ODIs on this ground of which Australia have been involved in 19. They have won an incredible 14 of those with just four defeats and a no result. South Africa have been competing in five of those games and they have two wins and three losses on the ground.
This is the first ODI here since the World Cup so it has been a while. 300+ scores are pretty common on this ground so it will be interesting to see if either batting line up has it in them to put up the significant sort of score that is needed to win the match. If they do they would have every chance here.
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Betting
Given the way both sides are struggling with the bat I don’t really want to go near the match betting here. I suspect South Africa will find it in them to get the job done but I can’t bring myself to side with their batting line up and in truth I wouldn’t really want to take on Australia at home.
One bet I do like though is for the match to have under 9.5 sixes. We only saw five in Adelaide with short square boundaries and there weren’t even that many in Perth. To put it simply, both batting line ups are struggling and both bowling attacks are very much the strength of these sides. That should equate to a struggle for sixes so I’ll take the under here.
Tips
Back Under 9.5 sixes for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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