Australia begin their white ball tour of South Africa on Wednesday evening when the two sides meet in the first of three T20 internationals. The opening game of the three comes from Durban and gives both teams the chance to set their stall out for what is to come.
The overriding purpose of this tour is to provide preparation for the 50 over World Cup which is closing in fast but before we get to five ODIs we have the three T20s to enjoy. Whoever wins here goes one up with two to play.
South Africa
This is the one format that in terms of global competitions South Africa continue to struggle in. Even at the World Cup last year they just needed to defeat the Netherlands to progress to the knockout stages but came up short and that is symptomatic of their history in this format. In the eight T20 World Cups there have been, South Africa have made the semi-finals just twice and have never gone on to reach the final so something has to give ahead of the next one in the Caribbean next year.
There is a youthful feel to the squad which has been named for this T20 series which suggests that South Africa are looking towards the future a little bit. They have called a squad which has plenty of batting power into their ranks while keeping with pace with the ball even though their gun two bowlers are sitting out, which is understandable given the workload they will have over the next few months or so.
Australia
Australia went from winning the World Cup in this format of the game to losing out in the group stages in their title defence. That would have disappointed them as that defence was on home soil but they were undone by the weather and one defeat which sent them tumbling out. They remain one of the better sides in this format but are getting to the stage where they need to blood some new talent with their key players starting to age.
The bowling is probably the area where they need to find some depth and that is reflected in the squad they are using for this series but they also have spots up for grabs in the opening position and at the finisher spot. As with South Africa though, the squad Australia are going into battle with here fully reflects where T20 cricket is on their immediate list of priorities, once again which is understandable given they are World Test champions and have a 50 over World Cup approaching.
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Team News
There will be no Quinton de Kock, David Miller, Kagiso Rabada or Anrich Nortje for South Africa in the T20s while the form horse Heinrich Klaasen is being saved for the ODIs as well. Tristan Stubbs will keep wicket with Donovan Ferreira and Matthew Breetzke waiting for their chance.
Australia are expected to give a debut to Spencer Johnson in this match. The seamer who impressed in the Big Bash and then The Hundred will be used in the role Mitchell Starc is usually found in. Matthew Short is also expected to debut in the first game in charge for Mitchell Marsh.
Betting
Kingsmead isn’t known to be the highest scoring ground in the world but two of the last four first innings scores here in T20 internationals have covered the 190 mark so when batters get going they can fill their boots and with both teams resting what you would call their first choice bowling units in this series you would have to think that ordinarily the bat will dominate the ball here. The caveat is that we are very early in the South African cricket season but this is a high profile series so I would expect a decent track.
The likes of Matthew Short, Tim David and to a lesser extent Matthew Wade have all been filling their boots in The Hundred recently so they should be coming in here up to speed which makes me think that Australia will deliver the goods with the bat and with no Mitchell Starc or Pat Cummins to face South Africa should get some joy too so over the course of this opening match I would expect to see more than 39.5 boundaries as the batters set the tone for what is to come.
Tips
Back Over 39.5 boundaries for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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