A hugely anticipated four match Test series between South Africa and Australia gets underway later this week as we look to find out who the best side in the world in the longer format of the game is and this should be a cracking series.
Both teams have had high profile series wins already this winter and while neither could be considered warm up events you always got the feeling this series has been in the minds of the two sides from a long way out.
Schedule
1st Test: 1-5 Mar at Durban
2nd Test: 9-13 Mar at Port Elizabeth
3rd Test: 22-26 Mar at Cape Town
4th Test: 30 Mar – 3 Apr at Johannesburg
South Africa
The South Africans have already won one high profile series this summer when they took care of India over three matches. They have since been well beaten in a couple of limited overs series by the Indians but that is unlikely to affect the Proteas heading into this series. South Africa used home advantage in their favour in that series and they should do similar here too.
South Africa will hope that injuries do not play a part for them in this series because that has threatened to derail them for much of the summer. If they can get their first choice XI on the park, and keep them there, they will be a tough nut to crack over the next five or so weeks. Recent history suggests that is a big if though.
Australia
The big series win for Australia came in the Ashes against England and much in the way the South Africans went, they then got smashed to pieces by England in the limited overs stuff but once again that is unlikely to do much damage to them in this series. After winning The Ashes if they can land this series too it would be quite some few months for them.
The big concern for Australia going into this series is the potential for their batting to be exposed. England opened it up a few times in docile conditions in The Ashes but did not have the back up to clatter it down but that won’t be an issue for South Africa so Australia will need their senior players to be right on top of their game here.
Head to Head
These two nations have been involved in 26 previous series against each other with Australia having had much the better of them. They have won 16 of those series with South Africa victorious in just five of them. There have also been five draws. 10 of those series wins for Australia have come in South Africa with a couple of draws and a couple of South African wins.
That dominance is reflected in the match numbers too where Australia have 51 Test wins in 94 matches to just 23 for South Africa. There have been 20 draws between the two sides too so history weighs in favour of the tourists here.
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Betting
I fancy South Africa to win this series because I think their batting line up will be exposed and opened up throughout it but I respect Australia’s record here enough to leave the series outright alone from the beginning and focus on a couple of side markets.
Steve Smith is without a doubt the standout batsman in this Australian side and he is the only one coming here in any sort of form too so the 7/4 that he leads the run scoring over the four matches for the tourists looks acceptable. Warner and Marsh aside this is a relatively inexperienced line up so I’m expecting the Australian captain to be the one to score the most runs for them.
I expect Keshav Maharaj to have a decent series here but I also expect Vernon Philander to be very solid and I fancy he’ll take the most wickets for the home side in it. Philander is a true class act and even if the wickets are on the slow side he will find the seam movement that will expose the weak techniques of the Australian top order and tail. Philander is always a runner in this market but especially in this series.
Tips
Back S.Smith Top Australia Series Batsman for a 3/10 stake at 2.75 with BetVictor
Back him here:
Back V.Philander Top South Africa Series Bowler for a 2/10 stake at 3.75 with Ladbrokes
Back him here:
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