After an extremely watchable Test series, South Africa and England don the coloured clothing and get the white ball in their hands from here on in, beginning with the first ODI of three which comes from Newlands in Cape Town on Tuesday.
This fast and frenetic series places plenty of significance on the opening match as whoever claims it will be in the advantageous position of being one up with two to play, so we should expect a highly competitive start to proceedings.
South Africa
After dropping the Test series in the fashion they did, South Africa will be eager to be counted in the limited overs stuff. With a few of the players coming back or into the team they look a stronger unit in this format, but they are up against the world champions here, and they take them on off the back of a pretty ordinary World Cup campaign of their own. There is plenty to prove for the South Africans here, but that isn’t always a bad thing.
If South Africa are going to be a factor in this series they are going to need to bat a whole lot better than they did when they were in England for the World Cup. They have changed captain since then so it will be interesting to see what different that makes. It will also be worth noting how they go about their business. Quinton de Kock is an aggressive player so it would make sense for his captaincy to be the same, but it doesn’t always work that way.
England
This will be the first 50 over outing for England since that iconic day at Lord’s last July when they won their maiden World Cup, so they will be out to prove that success was no fluke, and that they are not happy and content with winning the tournament and forgetting about it, but that they want to build on it and continue their dominance even longer. There are 3.5 years before the next World Cup though so they are resting players for this series.
The World Cup win was built on a strong reputation for being brutal with the bat, but they showed the longer the tournament went on that they were able to restrict sides with the ball. Across both limited overs formats they have built up a depth to their squad, particularly in the bowling department and that is something they will be looking to utilise in this format over the next nine months with the 20 over game getting more love ahead of the World T20.
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Team News
Faf du Plessis has not only lost the 50 over captaincy but he has also been left out of the side. Hashim Amla has retired since the World Cup, as has Imran Tahir, so the likes of Reeza Hendricks, Tabraiz Shamsi, Jon-Jon Smuts and Lutho Sipamla are set for extended runs.
England are in the middle of a pretty crazy schedule right now so they are giving the opportunity of a rest to Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler which means that Jonny Bairstow will take the gloves. There is talk of an ODI debut for Tom Banton in the middle order while Moeen Ali is expected to return. Jofra Archer is out injured so Chris Jordan is set to play.
Betting
I’ll open the series up with two bets, with the first of them being on over 55.5 boundaries which I think is a very low line. We saw in the Test match here, and indeed the last time England were in South Africa, that the boundaries are extremely accessible on this ground and when you think there is no Kagiso Rabada or Jofra Archer in this match, both teams are without their best bowler, which should in theory make batting somewhat easier. There are no shortage of decent batsmen on show in this match so I’m expecting a high scoring contest which can contain in excess of 55.5 boundaries.
The other bet I like is for Temba Bavuma to top score for South Africa. There is talk that he could bat three for South Africa in this match which would mean he is the one the likes of Rassie van der Dussen and David Miller will bat around. Bavuma is a good player who accumulates runs nicely and it wasn’t too long ago he smashed 180 in a First-class game for his state side. He went well in the Mzansi Super League and will need a big series if he is going to remain a part of the South Africa setup in this format of the game. At 8/1 there is enough value on him here.
Tips
Back Over 55.5 boundaries for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with William Hill
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Back T.Bavuma Top South Africa Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 9.00 with Coral
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