Australia’s torrid mini tour of South Africa draws to a conclusion on Wednesday when the two sides meet in the 5th and final ODI in Cape Town. The series has long since been over but the threat of a whitewash hangs over the Australians which they will be desperate to avoid and the home side will be equally as eager to enforce.
South Africa
If you had asked anyone in the South African camp how they would have liked this series to play out and what they would have wanted to get out of it I doubt any of them would have been as positive as what has actually played out and that just goes to show how dominant and emphatic their performances have been in this series.
South Africa even had the luxury of not playing Hashim Amla in the first two matches and resting Kagiso Rabada, Dale Steyn and Imran Tahir for the last match and they are still 4-0 up in the series which suggests they have an embarrassment of riches at their disposal.
Australia
If it could go wrong for Australia in this series it has done and they’ll be glad to get back on the plane, reassess and go again in their own conditions over their own summer. The focus in this series has been on their bowling which has been little better than pathetic for the most part but they shouldn’t shoulder all of the blame.
That is because their batting has suddenly gone elsewhere. They have only hit two centuries in the four matches so far and they both came in the same game and even that wasn’t enough to get them over the line. They looked a beaten batting line up in the last game and the scoreboard showed it.
Team News
There is talk of South Africa bringing all the heavy artillery back for this match to try and inflict a potentially mentally damaging whitewash on their opponents. That means all four of Dale Steyn, Imran Tahir, Kagiso Rabada and David Miller could return. Kyle Abbott’s spell in the last game should have guaranteed him another outing.
Australia could realistically field any bowling attack they wanted to here because no combination seems to be working. Usman Khawaja is yet to get a run out in the series and with two failures in the last three knocks Aaron Finch could legitimately make way for the left hander.
Newlands
The bad news for Australia is they are about to set foot into South Africa’s fortress. Of the 37 past matches here the Proteas have played in 31 of them and they have an astonishing 26-5 winning record. Not many sides get any joy out of them here. Australia’s record here is 2-4 from six games.
In those 37 matches there have only ever been two scores over 300 here so once again this isn’t the highest scoring ground either. Hitting sixes on the ground isn’t easy although with good drainage in place the outfield should be fast enough to give full value for shots.
Betting
As with all effective dead rubbers I’m not keen to wade into too much although it has to be said this one is a dead rubber with a bit of a difference and as such I’m going to get involved in the match betting.
In fairness it doesn’t take a whole lot of explaining why I’m backing South Africa. Australia’s bowling has been rancid in this series and their batting is fast heading the same way. South Africa absolutely love it on this ground and all of their side have made contributions at one point or another in all of the formats.
Australia will be keen to avoid the dreaded whitewash but everything we’ve seen both in this series and previously on this ground suggests South Africa are very much the ones to be on here.
Tips
WON – Back South Africa to win 5th ODI for a 4/10 stake at 1.73 with Paddy Power
Back them here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2016
