The short lived series between South Africa and Bangladesh draws to a close on Friday when the two sides meet in the second Test. This match comes from Bloemfontein and Bangladesh go into it knowing that they have to win it if they are going to get anything from the series.
South Africa dominated from the start in Potchefstroom and will be eyeing up a second successive win to boost their confidence ahead of the perceived tougher tests to come this winter.
South Africa
I would be interested to know if Ottis Gibson found anything out about his players from the first match. I guess he would have done having only recently taken over but then it was such a routine win that I would imagine he would have liked to have seen them tested a little more. That will come soon though given their schedule.
South Africa were authoritative with the bat and solid enough with the ball. When the time came to get on with things they did so and then they had enough about them to skittle Bangladesh in the second innings. I would imagine most people would have expected South Africa to win more dominantly but a win is a win.
Bangladesh
The tourists were up against it right from the start in Potchefstroom but things could have been so much different for them. They actually won the toss in that match but for some unknown reason they chose to bowl and never really managed to get themselves in front. We’ll never know what would have happened if they had batted first but it would be interesting to know.
To be fair to Bangladesh they performed with credit for the most part in that first match. They bowled as well as they could having read the wicket wrong and their first innings with the bat was encouraging but the longer it went the more they struggled to stay in touch and in the end they were well beaten but maybe not as badly as the score suggested.
Team News
South Africa will be without Morne Morkel for this match so they need to decide whether it is Wayne Parnell or Dane Paterson who replaces him. Paterson could be favoured to avoid creating rough for the off-spinners.
Bangladesh will be without the injured Tamim Iqbal for this second match which will be a real blow to their chances. Soumya Sarkar is expected to return to the top of the batting while Taskin Ahmed could be replaced too.
Mangaung Oval
There have been four previous Test matches at this ground and the bad news for Bangladesh is that South Africa have won them all. One of those was against Bangladesh too which is further bad news for the tourists.
This is usually a decent wicket for batting but there appears to be an emphasis on the pitches having pace and bounce in them this summer to assist the home attack. Look for the seamers to enjoy themselves in this one.
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Betting
This is not a match I can bet on in terms of the outcome but we can get stuck into one of the player performance bets where some of the lines look high but actually are not that high at all. That one that interests me the most involves Hashim Amla.
His line is 117.5 which he covered in the first innings of the first Test. He built on that with a second innings score and a bunch of catches and I expect him to do similar here too. Amla made a ton in that match that South Africa beat Bangladesh in here in 2008 and is generally a run machine. When you throw in catches too he shouldn’t need many more than 100 runs and over the course of the match I expect him to get them.
Tips
WON – Back H.Amla’s Performance – Over 117.5pts for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Paddy Power
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