Sri Lanka finally got on the board on their tour of South Africa on Sunday to set up a T20 series decider which comes in Cape Town on Wednesday. Neither side have shown any consistency in the series so far so this decider is full of interest and mystery. With an ODI series to come this decider could produce plenty of momentum for whoever comes through it.
South Africa
After enjoying themselves in a 10 over slog in the opening match of the series the South Africa batsmen really struggled on a different Wanderers wicket to what we are used to seeing and as a result their bowlers never had a chance of defending the total to get them over the line in the series.
Their batsmen will need to step up more in this match and it could be an important game for them because the last thing South Africa need going forward is to start struggling against spin. That sort of thing gets in the mind and is hard to get rid of. On the plus side they have bowled relatively well in both matches.
Sri Lanka
The Sri Lankans will have been delighted to get off the mark in Johannesburg and force this decider. They would have thought they had landed in heaven when they arrived in the capital and saw the wicket that was being used and credit to them for taking full advantage. They shouldn’t expect to see anything like that here.
That means that their batsmen are going to need to find something extra from themselves here but it also means that they are going to need their seam bowlers to step up and deliver the goods. They have bowled well on this tour in fairness but when the South Africans are coming at them you get the feeling they might struggle.
Team News
South Africa welcome AB de Villiers back into the side after a six month absence at international level. Theunis de Bruyn looks most likely to come out of the side.
Sri Lanka will be without their captain Angelo Mathews who has gone home injured. Dinesh Chandimal will skipper the side with Suranga Lakmal being talked about as the replacement for Mathews.
Newlands
This will be the 15th match to be held here in this format of the game and both sides have losing records here. South Africa have a 3-4 record while Sri Lanka have lost their only T20 match on this ground.
In recent times the scoring here has been quite high so we should get a good game of cricket. With South Africa still talking about the Johannesburg wicket there is no chance of another spinning track being produced.
Betting
The inconsistencies of both sides in the series haven’t helped anything from a betting point of view and as such it is hard to take anything with any certainty in this match. I think South Africa will win the match but there are no odds or markets that interest me from their point of view.
One bet I do like though is for Niroshan Dickwella to outscore JJ Smuts with a 2.5 run head start. Dickwella has put together scores of 43 and 22 in this series so far and looks quite comfortable in a position of opening the batting.
Smuts has struggled in his first outings at this level. Scores of 13 and 4 are a far cry from the scores he was putting up for the Warriors in the CSA T20 Challenge which got him into this squad although he had been struggling in domestic cricket since then. Smuts looks out of form whereas Dickwella is going ok and with the 2.5 run start the Sri Lankan can outscore his counterpart for a third time in the series.
Tips
WON – Back N.Dickwella (+2.5 runs) to beat JJ.Smuts for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Coral
Back him here:
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