Preparations for the Champions Trophy begin for England and South Africa on Wednesday when they meet in the first of three ODIs prior to the tournament beginning next month. The first match comes from Headingley with both sides looking to move one up with two to play in the series.
There hasn’t been a lot between these two sides in recent meetings so this first match should be a cracking contest with both teams expected to field their strongest sides ahead of perhaps experimenting later in the series.
England
England have already had a couple of ODIs this summer. They took on Ireland in a couple of fairly one sided matches and what they could take from them is unknown especially without a full strength side out. It might be that they have written them off and they look at this as the real start of their summer.
Since the last World Cup, England have been progressing quite nicely in this format of the game and their acid test is about to come not just in this series but also in the Champions Trophy which follows. England are currently favourites for that tournament so they won’t want to go into it off the back of defeats.
South Africa
The South Africans have taken on a couple of counties since they landed but this is their first meaningful outing of the summer. They haven’t had much success in global tournaments and have definitely underachieved with the talent they have had in this generation and they might well be under pressure to finally deliver next month.
This might just be the best South African squad that has ever gone into one of these tournaments and they have three matches to prepare for that. They have a deep batting line up and arguably the best balanced bowling attack in the world so they should produce some really good cricket in this match.
Team News
England will definitely bring Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes and Jos Buttler back into their side after they remained in the IPL through the Ireland series. Stokes’ return could also provide a return for Moeen Ali although Joe Root’s bowling success could negate that.
AB de Villiers hasn’t yet set foot on the field on this tour but he will play in this match. That leaves the final selection decision to be on the other all-rounder to Chris Morris. That looks to be between Andile Phehlukwayo, Wayne Parnell and Dwaine Pretorius. Parnell could get the nod.
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Betting
I’m going with two bets in this first ODI but I’m not betting on the match outcome. I really do see these sides as evenly matched so from that point of view a case could be made for value being in the visitors but that value is only minimal.
I do like the idea of a lot of sixes though. The weather in Leeds in the lead up to this match has been perfect and it is set to be the same on the day so the batsmen should enjoy themselves on what is usually a good international wicket where the boundaries are extremely accessible. The last three ODIs here have yielded 11, 14 and 13 sixes and I’m expecting another dozen here with the hitting potential on show.
Ben Stokes has a decent enough record against South Africa and he top scored for England on this ground against Pakistan last year and at 8/1 he’s a decent price to top score in this innings. The last six weeks have seen the stock of Stokes rise higher than it ever has before and I think we’ll see him go to the very top level from here on in. A classy knock is one way of highlighting that.
Tips
WON – Back Over 11.5 sixes for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with William Hill
Back it here:
Back B.Stokes Top England Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 9.00 with Paddy Power
Back him here:
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