South Africa and Australia conclude what has been a very entertaining T20 series on Sunday when the two sides head back to Durban for the third and final time as both teams gear up for a more important set of ODIs to come.
Australia have already won this series courtesy of two emphatic and dominant wins in the opening two matches. Given that there are ODIs to follow this match there is something for South Africa to keep playing for.
South Africa
Even though South Africa named a weaker squad for this series, they would not have expected to be blown away on home soil to the extent that they have been. Their bowling attack just hasn’t been able to contain the Australians and they have been soundly beaten as a result. Those bowlers have one last chance to prove that they can contain this powerful Australian batting unit before the bigger guns come in for the ODIs.
To be fair to South Africa, their batting hasn’t been too bad. We can’t really judge them on their opening effort because they were chasing a mountain of runs and had to go right from the off but the 164/8 that they put up in the second game had the chance to be competitive had they bowled well. That just didn’t happen and they paid the price for that. They have nothing to lose here though so need to meet fire with fire.
Australia
The Australians have probably been more dominant in this series than even they would have expected to be. I say that because they took have left some key bowlers out given the amount of work they have coming up and the much bigger fish they have to fry over that period. It goes to show the depth that they have in their team when a team made up largely of fringe players and new names can win the first two games as well as they have.
The big highlight for Australia in the series has been with the bat. They have been brutal in that department. I always think a captain dictates how the team plays and Mitchell Marsh has gone after everything and his team have followed suit. The Australians have had enough variety in their bowling to have South Africa covered as well and now they will be looking to go into the ODIs off the back of a clean sweep of the T20s.
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Team News
South Africa made a couple of changes for the previous match but we still haven’t seen Donovan Ferreira or Matthew Breetzke with the gloves while Sisanda Mangala and Keshav Maharaj are waiting for a chance with the ball.
Australia have used everyone available to them in this series so far but might decide to go back to Spencer Johnson and give him a second chance to impress with the ball, potentially in place of Tanveer Sangha.
Betting
This has been a series loaded with boundaries and with no competitive pressure on the batters here and the bowling units unlikely to be any stronger, I see no reason why this third match won’t follow suit and be high scoring like the previous two were. Australia have absolutely peppered the ropes in this series and they had plenty in the hutch at the end of the run chase in the last game to suggest that there is even more to come.
South Africa have looked a little shackled with the bat but they have the chance to pin their ears back and go out and entertain here. Even with the shackles on the home batters there have still been boundary totals in this series of 49 and 50 and with this one being a day game the ball should fly even more. Any senior bowlers in the ranks of these two sides might be rested with the ODIs in mind so I expect a 42.5 boundaries line to be covered once again.
Tips
Back Over 42.5 boundaries for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with Bet365
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