England continued their dominance of South Africa with another comfortable ODI win on Saturday and now they head to Centurion on Tuesday knowing they could win the series with two matches to spare which would be quite some achievement given their lengthy struggles in this format of the game historically.
South Africa must be getting sick of England by now. Ever since England arrived on their shores the Proteas batsmen have struggled to score runs and in this series in particular the bowlers have failed to deal with the brilliance of Jos Buttler and Alex Hales.
This is a South Africa side who are yet to get their heads around having no Jacques Kallis and as a result they are grossly unbalanced. Until they find that genuine all-rounder option they might well struggle in the current 50 over format.
The Proteas might decide to change their bowling attack to provide a little more pep with the bat in which case Chris Morris or David Wiese could come into the side. At some point you would think Morne Morkel will get a rest but that might not happen while the series is still live.
England’s turnaround in the one day game is as remarkable as it has been quick and a win in any of the next three matches will really have shown how far they have come.
England’s success is their all-round strength. They bat deep with David Willey constantly slated to come in as low as 10 and they have plenty of bowling options with two very solid spinners and four seamers and if they need it Joe Root can bowl the odd over. Everybody contributes to a team effort which bodes well for their future.
I wouldn’t expect England to change a winning side but Chris Jordan, statistically at least, had another poor match in Port Elizabeth although his brilliant catch of AB de Villiers was the moment the match changed and that could be enough for him to retain his place in the side. Stuart Broad or Chris Woakes continue to wait in the wings.
SuperSport Park in Centurion stages this match. There have been 47 previous ODIs here of which South Africa have surprisingly played in just 33. Their record here is good, like it is in Tests. They have a 21-11 winning record. England are 2-3 from their five matches here.
We’re up at altitude here so the ball flies further and usually there is a good batting wicket delivered for this format so unlike in Port Elizabeth I’m expecting the runs to really flow again. The boundaries are pretty accessible so unless there is dew or the ball does a bit under the lights I’m expecting a high scoring game here.
On what we’ve seen in this series so far England at odds against is incredibly tempting but this is the second time they have headed to Centurion 2-0 up on this tour and the first time they were blown away, admittedly in a dead rubber, by a rampant South Africa.
I don’t know what it is about this place but something suits South Africa about it and although England have been comfortably the better of the two sides so far I’m reluctant to take that record on here.
There is one bet I’ve found though which comes in the most sixes market where I’m surprised England are still as big as 9/10. Although the Bloemfontein game was rain affected England were 15-7 up in the sixes when the rain came and with South Africa five down would surely have won that and then in Port Elizabeth they won 5-2.
We shouldn’t be surprised at that. That is a legacy of the lack of balance in this South African side which means they can’t go too early else they could be bowled out in no time. England don’t have that problem. Not only do they bat down to number 10 but that number 10 has a T20 century to his name so they can go big from the start and keep on going.
There is always a chance AB de Villiers goes absolutely bonkers and if he does then fair play but without that England will hit the most sixes more often than not when these two sides meet and I’m on them to do it here.
WON – Back England Most 6s for a 5/10 stake at 1.90 with Betway
