South Africa head into the Champions Trophy as the number one ranked side in the ICC ODI rankings and they will be out to prove why they have that lofty position in the tournament. It is fair to say that despite South Africa winning this event in the past tournament cricket hasn’t been kind to the Proteas with infamous chokes all too frequent in recent times.
Stats
Best Finish: Winners 1998
Captain: AB de Villiers
Key Players: Quinton de Kock & AB de Villiers
Tournament Odds: 4/1 BetVictor
Group B Odds: 7/5 Bet365 & Boylesports
Fixtures
Sat June 3: vs Sri Lanka at The Oval
Wed June 7: vs Pakistan at Edgbaston (d/n)
Sun June 11: vs India at The Oval
Squad
AB de Villiers (c), Hashim Amla, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock, Jean-Paul Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir, Keshav Maharaj, David Miller, Morne Morkel, Chris Morris, Wayne Parnell, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada
Strengths
The best part of this South African side is their top four. Few sides in the tournament can match the power mixed with the grace of this South Africa side and any one of the four can take a game away from an opponent at any time. With hitters like David Miller, Chris Morris and Kagiso Rabada after them South Africa’s batting looks fine.
Weakness
It seems a little harsh to mention mentality as a weakness but we have seen it time and again that come the big matches they struggle to perform and get over the line and we only have to look back to the second ODI against England last weekend for further proof of that. Until South Africa win one of these things they will always carry the chokers tag.
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Betting
I think it is fair to say whoever is going to go well in this group will have to play spin with a significant amount of the Indian, Sri Lankan and Pakistani bowling attacks being spinners and for that reason I think Hashim Amla is a good bet to top score for South Africa in this tournament.
Amla has already top scored in the recent ODI series with England and he is one of the best players of spin in the modern game with his fast wrists and his excellent footwork. What is more he is the one to bat properly while the others score freely around him so over what should be four if not five matches the 3/1 on him to top score for South Africa looks good to me.
Tips
WON – Back H.Amla Top South Africa Tournament Batsman for a 2/10 stake at 4.00 with Skybet
Back him here:
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