The second leg of the winter assignment for England begins on Boxing Day when a four match Test series in South Africa starts up. The first half of the winter action didn’t go to plan for Joe Root’s men so they will be eager to make up for that here.
South Africa undergo the start of a new regime with this series so it is an important one for them too so this one is perfectly set up to be something of an epic series, one which contributes towards the World Test Championship.
Schedule
1st Test: 26-30 Dec at Centurion
2nd Test: 3-7 Jan at Cape Town
3rd Test: 16-20 Jan at Port Elizabeth
4th Test: 24-28 Jan at Johannesburg
South Africa
This has not been a good period for South African cricket with poor results on the field and a right old shambles taking place off it. There have been a lot of changes away from the pitch and there are likely to be some on it, so it will be interesting to see if they have the desired effect for South Africa in this series, and then beyond, as they look to regain their place as one of the leading lights in the international game.
South Africa have only won one of their last five series and that is not the sort of record we are used to seeing from them. One reason for that has been the retirements of some big players, while they have lost others to the English domestic season. Their batting hasn’t been all that good for a while now and if they are going to win this series they could do with churning out a lot more runs than they have done.
England
It hasn’t been the best period of cricket for England either. They failed to regain the Ashes earlier in the year and then went to New Zealand and lose so they will be a side under huge pressure if they are unable to get something out of this series. There are beginning to be a number of growing voices questioning the captaincy of Joe Root so he too could do with a result just to put those doubters in their place for a while.
Much like their opposition here, England’s success or otherwise will come in the amount of runs they can put up. They have struggled with the bat for going on five years now and if they are going to get back to the level they want to be operating at then they are going to have to sort that out and churn out consistent runs. They will have another issue to solve with the ball shortly, but for now it is the batting that needs the attention.
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Head to Head
There have been 36 previous meetings between these two sides in terms of Test series. South Africa have only come out on top in nine of them with England prevailing on 22 occasions with five of them ending as draws. That is played out in the individual match records where England host a 61 to 33 leads with 55 draws so if that is anything to go by then England should fancy their chances here it must be said.
19 of those series have been staged in South Africa and England have a decent enough record in those too. They have come out on top in 11 of them while South Africa have been victorious in just the five. That means three of them will be drawn but you wouldn’t think this would be a drawn series unless it is 2-2 because it is hard to see how there isn’t going to be four results here but for a lot of rain.
Betting
These are two sides who are way below their best and where we would expect them to be right now but it is England who I think will come out on top in this series and begin their rebuild. They are probably 12 months down the line in their transition which is not the case for South Africa, who in essence begin it here. They are said to be bedding in a lot of new blood in this series, which is needed, but there aren’t a huge amount of experienced players for them to take guidance from. This isn’t the best side England have got but with Anderson back in their bowling attack and signs of life from their batting I do think the tourists can get the job done here.
I think Joe Denly is overpriced to be the leading England batsman in the series. I say that because he is looking more and more accustomed to this level at the minute and with all the sicknesses in the camp he could benefit by a couple of England’s key players not playing the whole series. I guess you could argue that Denly still isn’t guaranteed to play all the matches but the position is his to lose and if he does lose it then he isn’t going to top score anyway. He looks a big price at 15/2 given that he bats at three.
Kagiso Rabada is the standout option with the ball for South Africa and on these pitches I expect him to cause havoc either with the new ball or via the sheer pace he bowls at with the old ball. There is no Dale Steyn any longer and there are no guarantees that Vernon Philander plays all four matches with his recent fitness record. There isn’t a huge amount else in this South African attack that looks certain to see off Rabada so even as a favourite I think the top notch pacer is worth a go here.
Tips
WON – Back England to win Test Series for a 3/10 stake at 2.38 with William Hill
Back them here:
Back J.Denly Top England Series Batsman for a 2/10 stake at 8.50 with BetVictor
Back him here:
Back K.Rabada Top South Africa Series Bowler for a 3/10 stake at 3.25 with Betway
Back him here:
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