After a false start on Friday, the ODI series between South Africa and England will finally get underway in Paarl on Sunday when the two sides meet in the only day game of the series in the one and only match in Paarl.
England were in complete control when these two teams went at it in the T20 matches last week and you’ve got to think they will be in a better places her given the up and down preparation the home side will have had.
South Africa
The South Africans will have been disappointed to lose all three T20 matches because they were in command in at least two of them and a case could be made that they had chances to win all three. They will be looking to use that knowledge here and hope that if they get into similar positions in this opening ODI that they can take advantage of them and capitalise on them, as the last thing they will want is to be heading to Cape Town having to win out to win the series.
Clearly the build up to this match has not been ideal for South Africa but that might not be the worst thing for them. That will free them of expectation and mean they can go out and play something approaching their natural game. If that means that they express themselves with the bat and use their variations with the ball then they might cause what would have to be considered a sizeable upset given all that has gone on.
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
The runs line for this match is up at 545.5 but that looks a little on the high side to me. We saw in the T20 match here last week that this isn’t necessarily the easiest ground to score runs on and the poor preparation that South Africa have had has to have an impact on their play. Even if it doesn’t they look incredibly light with the bat and it wouldn’t be a complete surprise if they really struggle in that area of the game.
England look a much stronger unit but they don’t always play their best 50 over cricket on wickets where you are required to think through a little bit of strategy or where the ball doesn’t quite come onto the bat as they would like it. We also saw that in the T20 match here where it took the class of Dawid Malan to get England home. Chasing teams don’t have the best record on this ground so unless the first innings is in excess of 300 I really don’t see this line being covered. I’m happy to be on the under here.
Tips
VOID – Back Under 545.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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