The first Test between South Africa and Sri Lanka starts on Boxing Day with both sides looking to get off to a quick start in the series. The winners here will go one up with two to play which is a very strong position to be in while the losers will be under pressure right from the start.
South Africa
South Africa were quite brilliant in their recent series against Australia and they will be looking to pick up where they left off from that series. South Africa are a side who should be threatening the top spot in the Test rankings and if they are to get up there again they have to be winning this series quite convincingly.
We know the South Africa bowlers will be comfortable in these conditions so you would think the series will come down to how well the South African batsmen deal with the variety in the Sri Lankan attack but in these conditions they will be expected to dominate throughout.
Sri Lanka
There is a lot of talk building up in Sri Lanka about the promise of the current side but they need to take that promise and turn it into big results on the road. The sign of a side in the current day is how they can play in foreign conditions. The last time Sri Lanka were in alien conditions they were found wanting against England so we will be able to see if there is an improvement.
If they are to improve they need their batting to make a different. Often their lower-middle order was ripped out in England and that isn’t a good place to be. It will also be interesting to see how their young seamers can go in what should be friendly conditions for them.
Team News
There is still no AB de Villiers for South Africa so we can expect the only change from the defeat in Adelaide to be Keshav Maharaj coming into the side for Tabraiz Shamsi.
Sri Lanka’s batsmen look to have their places booked in so their only selection issues revolve around which seamers they are going to pick. It would appear Dushmantha Chameera will be in the side.
St George’s Park
This will be the 27th Test match to be held on this ground and Sri Lanka might take some confidence from the fact that South Africa have a losing record here. They have 10 wins, 11 defeats and five draws from the previous matches here. Sri Lanka will be playing their first Test here.
The wicket can be a little tacky on this ground which might bring the Sri Lanka bowlers into play. The batsmen can score runs when they get in but you do tend to find wickets fall in clusters so it will be fascinating to see if that trend continues.
Betting
Until I’ve seen Sri Lanka with my own eyes I’m going to tread carefully in this series. I’ll stick with what I perceive to be a safe bet and it comes in the form of the player performances.
In the absence of Dale Steyn, South Africa will need someone to stand up and be counted and I fancy that player will be Vernon Philander. His bowling style is suited perfectly to this wicket and a line of 120.5 means we should only need six wickets from him assuming he gets a bat. That said we saw in Australia how good a batsman he is and it might be that we don’t need six wickets at all. Whether we do or we don’t I think we’ll get the required points to cover this line.
Tips
WON – Back V.Philander’s Performance – Over 120.5pts for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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