There is another double header of action in the T20 World Cup on Saturday and the first game sees two sides whose tournament life could well be on the line when South Africa meet Sri Lanka in the Super 12 Group 1 in Sharjah.
Both these teams have a win and a loss on their ledger after their opening two matches in this group, but with two sides already on two wins and one of those moving to three wins in the second game on Saturday, qualifying for the semi-finals will be a difficult proposition for whoever loses here.
South Africa
The South Africans will hope their first innings of the competition doesn’t come back to bite them because in the three they have taken part in since then they have looked a very good outfit. Unfortunately they lost a clump of early wickets in their opening match to Australia and couldn’t rebuild the innings to post a winning score, even though they took that contest down to the final over, which was a very good effort in itself.
South Africa deserve credit to bounce back from that loss to beat West Indies in their second match, more so when you consider the story that was building around that match with the Quinton de Kock issue. In both their matches they have bowled well, which is no surprise as they have a good attack for the conditions, and in the second match there were signs that even without de Kock their batting is beginning to come to life and that could yet see them dangerous in this tournament.
Sri Lanka
After lighting up the first round of this tournament and then being involved in a very entertaining win in their first match of the Super 12s, Sri Lanka were brought down to earth a little last time out when they couldn’t convert a promising start into a winning position against Australia and ending up being relatively comfortably beaten. There were certainly positives to take from that defeat but they will know they can’t afford another one here if they want to keep things in their own hands.
The obvious concern in the defeat to Australia was that their fielding wasn’t at the level it will need to be. A very easy caught behind got shelled off Dave Warner when he was looking a bit scratchy and that allowed him to find his feet and flow. The pace bowlers were a little bit expensive from the start as well and they will need to tighten up a touch here. The positives were their spinners were well in the game and their batting is continuing to look much better than it did prior to the tournament. They just need to make sure they finish their innings off well.
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Key Men
All eyes will be on Quinton de Kock in this match for reasons not necessarily related to what he does on the field, but he could be key to the chances of South Africa in this match. They have struggled against spin through the years so you sense the Proteas will need to be ahead after the powerplay. De Kock can get them to that position.
Wanindu Hasaranga kept the Australians in check with his leg spin in the previous match and now has eight wickets in the tournament. He’ll be eyeing up the South African middle order here and could also be useful with the bat in hand too.
Betting
It had looked like the pitches in Sharjah were beginning to play better than we saw them do in the IPL but then Friday came along and the match between West Indies and Bangladesh was played on a very tough wicket to score runs on, and given that this match is only 24 hours after that one I’m assuming this will be played on the same pitch. That makes me think this one isn’t going to be a high scoring classic either.
The pitch is one reason for that and the two sets of batting is another reason. Sri Lanka struggled against the out and out pace of the Australia bowlers and in Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje, South Africa certainly don’t lack for firepower. On the other side of that, South Africa played eight overs of spin against Australia for a 3-45 total output and 1-53 from the seven overs they faced of it against West Indies. There’s an argument to be made that Sri Lanka offer a better spin attack than either of those two and this pitch will only help them prove that. The runs line here is 282.5 which might just be beyond these two in a day game on a used pitch.
Tips
Back Under 282.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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