We move into the second half of the Cricket World Cup on Wednesday and it begins with a huge match in the overall picture of the tournament as New Zealand take on South Africa in the first game of the event at Edgbaston.
Each match is going to increase importance from here on in but this has a really big feel to it. Should New Zealand come out on top you have to think the semi-finalists are all but locked in. A South Africa win opens things up nicely.
AllSportsBetting Podcast
After a couple of days away while Steve dealt with an illness, the boys are back with their preview of a huge Wednesday clash. Kev provides an insight into Edgbaston along with his three picks while Steve weighs in with a bet too. To hear them all click play on the video below!
New Zealand
We are going to find out whether New Zealand truly are genuine contenders for this tournament or not here. You should never criticise a team for winning matches but you can establish that certain wins mean more than others and a win over South Africa would be more significant than victories over Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, particularly when the latter one was so laboured and so much of a struggle.
The Kiwis are a really good all-round team. They are not seen as flashy in any discipline but they are solid and disciplined in all of them and that style is often good enough for tournament play. It isn’t good enough to win them, they need to add something special on top of that, but they will always be competitive. Their batting hasn’t really fired in this tournament just yet. Here would be a wonderful time for it to start.
South Africa
Given that they were effectively playing knockout cricket against Afghanistan last time out, credit should go to the Proteas for winning it but there was little that was convincing about it and it almost goes without saying that they are going to need to be better here if they are to keep their longevity in the tournament from a competitive standpoint intact for a prolonged period of time.
If there has been a good thing for South Africa in this event so far it is that they don’t have to do too much searching for where they have gone wrong. They have batted horribly in the competition to date. They always looked light with the bat and needed the few batsmen they do have to deliver the goods if they were to go far in this. They quite simply haven’t and unless they begin to do so here it will be game over.
Team News
New Zealand have no obvious reason to make any changes for this match off the back of three wins. Ish Sodhi and Henry Nicholls are waiting patiently for their opportunity but it would appear their wait will go on a little longer.
South Africa are expected to have Lungi Ngidi back after he has missed the last few outings with injury. It remains to be seen who he will replace however given that Chris Morris bowled well against Afghanistan.
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Betting
Edgbaston has been a high scoring ground in recent seasons but I wonder if that will be the case here. That isn’t because I don’t expect the pitch to be good, I do, but whether these two batting line ups are good enough or deep enough collectively to put up big scores I’m less sure. South Africa haven’t batted well at any stage in the tournament and will be up against it here while this is the toughest test New Zealand will have faced with the bat. I think the bowling attacks will be too good so I’m happy to be on under 550.5 runs.
One player in particular who I think could struggle is Hashim Amla. He has a runs line of 35.5 which looks way too high based on the scratchy performances we’ve seen from him recently. Prior to his very weird 41* from 83 against Afghanistan his scores in this tournament had been 13, 6 and 6. They are no better against New Zealand either with him failing to score more than 10 in three of his last four innings against them. Boult, Henry and Lockie Ferguson are all in great form and I see 36 runs being beyond Amla at present.
Given the struggles that South Africa have been having with the bat there has to be a chance that Chris Morris gets in relatively early and with the top score still in his sights. New Zealand do get weaker with the ball the longer they go on and that should suit Morris nicely while at the same time this ground has dimensions which should also allow his game to flourish. Morris has already top scored in the tournament so the 28/1 he does so again here is far too big.
Tips
WON – Back Under 550.5 runs for a 4/10 stake at 1.90 with Betway
Back it here:
Back H.Amla – Under 35.5 runs for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Bet365
Back C.Morris – Top South Africa Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 29.00 with Bet365
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