The T20 series between South Africa and England concludes on Tuesday when the two sides head back to Newlands for the third and final game, as preparations for the World T20 next year continues at quite a pace.
England secured the series with another controlled run chase in Paarl on Sunday and they will go out for a clean sweep here with the ODIs to come later in the week. You get the feeling that South Africa need to go into those matches with a win so this is potentially more important for them.
South Africa
The South Africans will be gutted to lose that second match. I say that not because the series went with it but also because for the second time in succession they have let a good position slip by not being ruthless enough with the ball and not having the quality at the back end of proceedings to get the job done. That is something they are going to need to work on between now and the start of that World T20 if they harbour hopes of winning the tournament.
The other thing they could do with doing is finding a deeper batting line up. You can’t win T20 matches with a light batting line up these days. You need players who can finish innings off and in both matches so far the Proteas’ batting has looked incredibly light. They are missing some all-rounders to be fair to them but even the main batsmen they are picking don’t really look like they are ready to dominate with the exception of the main two, de Kock and du Plessis.
England
England will be a lot happier with their performance in the second match of the series than the first one and it will be interesting to see if there is another improvement in them here. Unlike in the first game they were always in control when they had the ball in hand and as a result of that their variations at the death had maximum effect because they were not bowling at set batsmen, which is half of the battle in this game.
You would think England will make changes for this match but that doesn’t necessarily mean they will be significantly weaker as the depth they have right now is incredible. In an ideal world their top order will find some runs in this match to take into the ODI series with them and if that were to happen then the tourists would have got pretty much everything they would have wanted out of the series.
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Team News
David Miller and Andile Phehlukawayo remain unavailable for South Africa in this match but the Proteas need to find a way to strengthen their batting order. Bringing Jon-Jon Smuts in could do that and he could replace the expensive Lungi Ngidi.
England captain Eoin Morgan has hinted that his team will decline the change to make wholesale changes with the series won but it would be a surprise if there isn’t a place for Mark Wood. There could also be a spot for Moeen Ali on a used wicket.
Betting
England won the sixes battle for the second time in this series on Sunday yet their price to hit the most sixes here has increased which is a little bit strange. They only won it 3-2 on Sunday and did so late on but there was a player caught on the boundary with one of those fancy pieces of fielding and a few others that fell just short of clearing the rope. The thing to remember here is the boundary is much smaller than in Paarl so England mishits will go for six.
I said on Sunday that South Africa don’t tend to contain many big hitters in their ranks and this England attack when it is up to speed don’t concede a whole lot of sixes when they are on song so more often than not the tourists will hit the most sixes in their matches. There is a slight difference here if the teams make a bunch of changes but whoever England bring in will hit clean or bowl fast or to the conditions so I expect England to hit the most sixes here.
Tips
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