World champions England dominated the three T20s against South Africa recently and now they will be looking to do something similar when the two sides meet in the first of three ODIs which begin in Cape Town on Friday.
South Africa were probably more competitive than the score suggested in those T20 matches but were found wanting when it really counted and that is something that will need to change if they are going to come out on top in this series.
South Africa
This will be the first time we have seen South Africa in ODI cricket since Covid put the world into lockdown. In fact they have not been beaten in either ODI series they have played in 2020, against England and Australia, and maintaining that unbeaten record will be their first task here. Although there is the ODI Super Series points on the line here, you sense South Africa are looking ahead three years to the next World Cup based on their selection here.
If they are looking ahead to the next World Cup already, and after the disaster of the previous one it might be no bad thing if they are, then you would think there will be a lot of emphasis on the spin department over these three matches, especially the longer the series goes on and tired pitches will be coming into play. South Africa desperately need a finisher at the end of both innings as well so that is another thing to look out for.
England
This is without doubt the strongest format for England even if they were beaten by Australia in their last series in it. That came at the end of a crazy summer where cricket had been coming thick and fast and life in the bubble was bordering on three months so I’m not going to condemn them for that. I think it is fair to say that even though they are the world champions in this format it is the one which interests them the least at the present time with their attention all on the T20 stuff currently.
Given that is the case England have allowed a few key men to go home early and get them away from bubbles ahead of the tours to Sri Lanka and India early in 2021. That means England will be weaker on paper than they were in the T20s but the beauty of the way the English summer was forced to work was that they built up a lot more depth to their ranks, and some of the fringe players get another chance to showcase their talents.
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Team News
South Africa look to have dispensed with the services of Faf du Plessis in this form of the game but they could have David Miller and Andile Phehlukwayo back after it is suspected they missed the T20s because of Covid. There is no Kagiso Rabada for this series Anrich Nortje to deliver the goods.
England will be without the likes of Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer and Sam Curran for this series but when you consider the replacements are likely to be Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes and Olly Stone it is hard to argue that they are weak even if they are not at full strength.
Betting
I’ll open the series with a player performance bet which comes in the form of Joe Root who needs a big time of it over the coming months to prove that he can cut the mustard and push his way into the T20 squad for the T20 World Cup next year. With that in mind, it might be with the ball where he might want to prove himself because his spin could be the thing that gets him the edge in some tight calls ahead of the tournament in India.
Eoin Morgan likes to use Root in limited overs cricket anyway and bowling Root will mean he can either play the extra batsman or an extra seamer which would be handy. The England Test captain has a performance line of just 42.5pts here which looks very low for a man of his talents, particularly when you consider South Africa are without their strike bowler here. He could cover this with the bat alone very easily but with the chances of some bowling or fielding points I’m happy to be on the over here.
Tips
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