It may not be a traditional time of year for a Test match in South Africa but one begins on Friday when the Proteas host New Zealand in the first game of a two match series in Durban.
New Zealand warmed up for this series with a battle against Zimbabwe recently so they should be well tuned up which makes for an exciting couple of games. You can make all the arguments in the world about the point of two match series but both games should be good to watch.
South Africa
This will be South Africa’s first series since their demise to England at the beginning of the year. Given that series followed the debacle in India it is now three series without a win for the hosts and that will hurt them as this is the format they pride themselves on the most.
One of the reasons for their recent issues has been the lack of that world class all-rounder which all top sides need. Jacques Kallis filled that role in the past but they haven’t managed to replace him and until they do there will always be an imbalance about their side that sees them struggling a little.
New Zealand
The Kiwis have now lost just two of their last 11 series having beaten Zimbabwe earlier in the month. It will be fair to say this will be one of their tougher tests in that time but they have an aggressive philosophy and if they stick to that then they might just surprise the home side.
They have lost a couple of key players in recent times too with Brendon McCullum and Daniel Vettori both hanging up their boots and we will find out in this series and the ones they play over the winter just how much those two men are missed or whether they have the strength in depth to continue to be a top side.
Team News
South Africa will be without the injured AB de Villiers and Morne Morkel for this series but Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander do return which is a boost. Faf du Plessis might not have been in this side had de Villiers been fit but he is in and he’ll captain it.
New Zealand have no injuries to contend with. Their only selection dilemma appears to be whether to play the extra spinner or a fourth seamer. That choice would appear to be between Ish Sodhi and Doug Bracewell.
Kingsmead
This isn’t necessarily South Africa’s favourite ground. In the 41 previous matches here they have won 14 and lost 14 with 13 draws. It isn’t exactly a place New Zealand rush to either as they’ve played here on three occasions and lost the lot.
I always think the track in Durban is one of the best cricket wickets in the world although whether we’ll get that here remains to be seen as we are outside of the usual South African season so there is every chance the wicket will be much softer than usual and potentially much slower which isn’t ideal for anyone.
Betting
Given that we don’t know quite how the wicket is going to play it probably isn’t the wisest idea to get involved in the match betting until we’ve had the chance to have a look so I’m going to swerve the main betting but there is a player performance that I like.
That is the performance of Neil Wagner. Wagner took 11 wickets in the two Tests against Zimbabwe and has been in good touch for Lancashire all summer which are all positives for a man chasing a performance line of just 91.5pts.
Wagner has 85 wickets in just 21 Test matches so he is averaging four wickets a match and four wickets here combined with 12 runs sees this line covered but if he outperforms his average with the ball then the line will be safely in so that is a performance we can jump on.
Tips
VOID – Back N.Wagner’s Performance – Over 91.5pts for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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