South Africa and Australia play the first of their three T20 matches which take place over the next week on Friday afternoon as both sides finalise their preparation for the upcoming World T20 which is getting ever closer.
In fairness this should be a cracking series in its own right with both sides keen to get one over the other going into the World Cup and with these being two of the bigger nations in cricket I don’t think these matches are going to lack for intensity.
The mystery around the series will be in the team selections but Faf du Plessis and the South African hierarchy have hinted that Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers will open the batting so amazingly Quinton de Kock will have to sit on the sidelines despite his fine form.
More importantly for South Africa is the return of Dale Steyn who is said to be chomping at the bit to get back into action. He is likely to replace Kyle Abbott from the win over England a couple of weeks ago although there is still a chance that Chris Morris or David Wiese could sit out.
Australia are a bit of an enigma in this format of the game. While they rank highly in the longer forms of the game they are way down the pecking order in this one. The main reason for that is because they simply don’t play much of this format internationally. This will be just their ninth match since the last T20 World Cup which was some two years ago.
If you believe the talk then Shane Watson is going to open the batting for Australia in this match with David Warner dropping into the middle order. Usman Khawaja will partner Watson at the top of the order with Glenn Maxwell down at five just ahead of James Faulkner and Mitchell Marsh. Chris Lynn and Travis Head are set for the sidelines.
Another man who may well be on the side is Adam Zampa as he was ill on the eve of the match and may not recover in time. If he doesn’t Australia could play Ashton Agar or just use Glenn Maxwell as a lone spinner and play the extra seamer.
Kingsmead in Durban is the venue for this match and even though there have only been 13 previous T20 internationals on this ground the place is famous for being the stadium in which Yuvraj Singh belted Stuart Broad for six sixes in an over in the 2007 T20 World Cup.
South Africa have only played six T20s on this ground and have won four of them and lost twice. Australia have a win and a defeat from their two matches here so there is no historical bias really.
The wicket here is usually slower than what you would normally get in South Africa. Spinners are usually in play here and the wicket can get a bit tacky and hard to score from so it is difficult to know what a good score is here. I suspect whoever wins the toss will field and know what they are chasing.
I give the edge to South Africa here. Australia have lost their last four T20 matches and you have to go right the way back to November 2014 for their last win in this format. Admittedly that win was against South Africa but Australia just feel undercooked to me.
South Africa have always embraced this format of the game and you could tell how comfortable they are in it when they played England. At no point did they panic in that first game when they were facing defeat nor in the second game when England were firing away from them and that bodes well.
Ultimately I suspect this match will come down to my favourite two things in this format of the game and that is fielding and bowling. The best bowling attack usually wins these matches and the side who fields the best nearly always do.
Australia are carrying one or two in the field for this match while South Africa are a gun fielding side apart from Imran Tahir and he’s never a factor anyway and now that Dale Steyn is back I’d give them the edge with the ball. That should ensure a home win here especially in these conditions.
WON – Back South Africa to win 1st T20 for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with Ladbrokes
Back them here:
