The ODI series between South Africa and Australia may already be over but these are two proud nations who have plenty of pride to play for over the final two matches, the first of which takes place in Port Elizabeth on Sunday.
South Africa came from the clouds to win a third match in succession in the series on Wednesday when a David Miller masterclass got them over the line in Durban. Australia are getting closer to success but can’t quite get it done in the key moments thus far.
South Africa
It has been all too easy for South Africa in this series so far purely because of the absolute dominance they have been able to show with the bat in the three matches to date. When you consider they are without AB de Villiers throughout this series that only highlights the depth they have in their batting.
The key for them now is to maintain their intensity which is never easy to do once series are won but with plenty of cricket coming up momentum could be a big thing for a side which relies on confidence to bring the best out of it no matter which format it is playing.
Australia
You don’t have to search too far to see what has gone wrong with Australia so far in this series. They just haven’t been competitive with the ball and having not got many options with them on this tour it is difficult to see what is going to change for them over the remaining two matches.
Most judges thought they had put up a very defendable total in the last game in Durban but the closer it got to the finish line the less likely it looked that they would defend 371 and that was despite having the Proteas 265-6 with a little over 12 overs to go. They must find a way to keep the run flow down at the death of their innings if they are to claim respectability in the series.
Team News
South Africa are forced into one change for this match as David Miller’s injury from Durban is enough to keep him out of this one. Ferhaan Behardien is expected to replace him. Dale Steyn and Kagiso Rabada are likely to have their workloads managed to expect Kyle Abbott to come in for one of them.
Australia will surely change their bowling attack for this match. Scott Boland hasn’t been seen since the first match but the time has come for him to lead the attack once again. With the series over it may be that Usman Khawaja gets a go in place of one of the openers.
St George’s Park
There have been 37 previous matches in this format here in Port Elizabeth with South Africa having taking part in 30 of them. They have won 18 and lost 11 with one no result in that time while Australia’s record here reads P10 W7 L3 so both sides should be comfortable in the surroundings.
This is spoken about as one of the slower wickets in South Africa and the scores reflect that. Only four first innings scores have been in excess of 300 on this ground although statistics like that are largely irrelevant with the second string attack that Australia have with them for this series. The boundaries aren’t the easiest to clear.
Betting
Now that the series is over my betting interests in it is going to be minimal but I will maintain an interest in it if nothing else than for preparation for the upcoming Ram Slam T20 but I won’t be going too mad on the last two ODIs.
As for a bet in this one I’m going to stick with a bet that has made some nice money through the series so far which is the South Africa first 10 overs line. It has shot up a little for this match to 57.5 but I still don’t see that being high enough.
You can argue, with some justification, that the wicket is slow and sometimes tacky but that doesn’t change the fact that this Australia attack are low on confidence and experience and that Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla are milking it and dominating everything about it right now. Without doing anything extortionate in Durban, South Africa still made 77-1 in their first 10 overs to add to totals of 66-0 and 87-0 in the other two games. I’m expecting at least 58 from them in the powerplay here.
Tips
Back South Africa’s 1st 10 Overs – Over 57.5 runs for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Coral
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