Oceania isn’t the only place an ODI series begins this week as there is a five match one which kicks off in South Africa on Wednesday when the Proteas host a resurgent England side over the next couple of weeks.
England turned up and shocked the South Africans in the Test matches and now they will be out to beat the World Cup semi-finalists in the 50 over format of the game to show how far they have come in the format since the World Cup.
South Africa are traditionally a very good one day side. They have won seven of their last nine bilateral series although England will have noticed they were beaten by Bangladesh towards the end of last year and that will encourage the visitors here.
In fairness England have been a much better side since the World Cup. They have beaten New Zealand and Pakistan in lengthy series and only narrowly lost to Australia but this might be a truer test of where they are at as they build towards the Champions Trophy and the next World Cup.
South Africa have the same injuries to their bowling attack going into this series which dogged them in the Test matches but on the flip side they do look a lot better balanced with the bat in this format of the game which will give them some confidence.
England are a much changed side from the Tests. Gone are Alastair Cook, James Anderson, Steven Finn and Stuart Broad was only a last minute addition to the squad when Liam Plunkett was injured on a Lions Tour. Those coming in will only have had one warm up match prior to the series opener.
I’m really looking forward to this series but in all honesty I’ve no idea how it is going to go. England probably take the more confidence into the series with them but South Africa might well be glad to get back into limited overs where they can just go on the attack. I’m going to leave the series outcome alone to begin with.
One bet I am happy to take before the series begins is for AB de Villiers to be the Top South Africa batsman. ABDV is head and shoulders the best limited overs batsman in the world in my eyes so even as favourite I’m prepared to take him here.
While England are massively improved in this format of the game their improvement has largely been with the bat rather than the ball. They are still expensive with the ball and still pretty ordinary at the death of the innings which isn’t ideal because that is when de Villiers creates the most carnage.
Of course there are dangers to de Villiers not least Amla and de Kock among others but none of them have the ridiculous attack killing brilliance that de Villiers has and as long as he bats in every match I would be surprised if he’s outscored.
I’m also going to keep up my following of Kagiso Rabada in this series. He’s earned me a fair bit of money already on this tour and I see no reason why he’s going to stop now.
There is no Dale Steyn or Vernon Philander for the Proteas in this series and while Imran Tahir has a good record in this format he’s been around county cricket long enough for the English batsmen to know all about him.
I don’t see the likes of Morris or Wiese having the skills that Rabada does so this is between Rabada, Morkel and Abbott for me. The latter can’t be ruled out given that he’ll bowl at the death but I’m a big fan of Rabada and he can continue to show why in this series.
Back A.de Villiers Top South Africa Series Batsman for a 3/10 stake at 3.50 with Betfred
Back K.Rabada Top South Africa Series Bowler for a 2/10 stake at 3.75 with Paddy Power
