After a series each so far on England’s tour of South Africa the tour will be decided if you like by two T20 internationals which the two sides play in the next few days. The first of those takes place in Cape Town on Friday.
As well as a mini-series in its own right these two matches will serve as preparation for the upcoming World T20. South Africa will finish their prep with three matches against Australia after these games whereas for England these are the last matches they play before landing in India.
South Africa will hit England with their third captain since they landed on these shores. After Hashim Amla began the Tests and AB de Villiers finished them Faf du Plessis has reins for these games. The Proteas have won six of their last seven in this format of the game and will be looking to build on their ODI success.
There is no Dale Steyn for this series while Morne Morkel wasn’t included in the World T20 squad so he isn’t about here either so that means both David Wiese and Chris Morris are likely to be included unless du Plessis wants the extra spinner in Aaron Phangiso. David Miller is expected to come into the middle order.
England have always been proficient in this format of the game and go into this first match off the back of six successive wins in the 20 over sphere including three successive successes in the UAE against Pakistan.
Such is the strength of England’s squad for this series the man of the series in the UAE – James Vince, looks set to miss out in this game. David Willey missed out late on in the ODIs but he is back for this match. Sam Billings and Chris Woakes could have to wait for another day.
The picturesque Newlands in Cape Town is the venue for this first game. South Africa had a great record here in ODIs and they enhanced that in the deciding game on Sunday but their T20 record here is nowhere near as strong. They have lost three of their five matches here. England aren’t much better. They’ve lost two of their three games on this ground.
I think this format suits England. They have so much batting depth that they can just go and keep on going because rarely are they going to get bowled out in 20 overs but they now have some really nice variation in their bowling attack to make it difficult for opponents to get them away. Crucially, as we saw against Australia and Pakistan last year, they know how to hold their nerve.
South Africa’s attack is all a bit samey without Morne Morkel and that can go against them and while they have a couple of power hitters they have been guilty of relying too much on the likes of AB de Villiers and David Miller.
I think England are a little overpriced here so given the price and the fact the same wicket is being used that the ODI was played on should bring Adil Rashid more into game. It is England here for me.
I still think South Africa’s batting line up is a genuine top quality batsman light so I’m going to get stuck into their top batsman market. Of course AB de Villiers and Quinton de Kock went well in the ODIs but it could be that someone down the order prospers in this match.
David Miller is the obvious man to do that. He is a big hitter who will be hitting with the spin if he faces Adil Rashid and having played a season of county cricket he will be used to hitting most of these bowlers. No ground is big enough for Miller when he gets going so at 11/1 I’ll take the chance he is in early enough to cover any total he needs to.
Back England to win 1st T20 for a 4/10 stake at 2.15 with NetBet
Back D.Miller Top South Africa Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 12.00 with Paddy Power
