Overview
The last match of the Super 10 stage of the Cricket T20 World Cup is a complete dead rubber for both South Africa and Sri Lanka. Both have had disappointing returns in the tournament to date and as a result both will be going home after this match.
South Africa have probably been a bigger disappointment than Sri Lanka. That is a harsh thing to say but the Proteas have a squad good enough to win the Cricket T20 World Cup on paper but as we’ve seen the matches have not been played on paper.
South Africa’s bowling has really hurt them during the T20 World Cup. They took far too long to get Aaron Phangiso into the side and they’ve paid the price as a result. Not being able to defend 229 in their opening match of the event has really come back to haunt them.
It remains to be seen whether South Africa will make any changes to their side for this match. Farhaan Behardien hasn’t featured in the tournament yet so it makes sense for him to play. David Wiese could make way as could Rilee Rossouw. JP Duminy remains out.
Sri Lanka arrived as defending champions but I don’t think anyone truly expected them to retain the title. In fact they’ve probably done as well as most, certainly I, expected. They were competitive against the West Indies and threatened to upstage England.
Sri Lanka were always going to need their big players to stand up and by and large they have done that but they just don’t have enough players accustomed to this level and they have paid the ultimate price.
The defeat to England ended Sri Lanka’s tournament and it has ended the competition for Angelo Mathews and Dushmantha Chameera too. Both picked up injuries against England that are expected to keep them out here. Suranga Lakmal could come into the side.
Venue
The Feroz Shah Kotla Ground in Delhi is the venue for this match as it will be for the first semi-final. Sri Lanka will know conditions well here having faced England on this ground on Saturday. South Africa play here for the first and only time in the tournament.
Betting
I don’t like betting on dead rubbers at the best of times. This dead rubber features both sides carrying injuries and is even more unpredictableto bet on. I’m reluctant to get involved in the match outcome betting although you would have to fancy South Africa with the way Sri Lanka are struggling with the bat.
If there is one good thing about the injuries it means we can get some value in the player markets and I’m going to play this match with a couple of small punts in them in the hope we can snatch some bonus cash to take into the knockout stages with us.
Jeffrey Vandersay has already delivered the goods for me once in this tournament, on this very ground in fact, and I’m going to back him to do the same here.
He has bowled very well throughout the tournament and we saw South Africa struggle against Samuel Badree’s leg spin in their previous game. With Chameera and Mathews likely to miss out here that is two dangers sat on the sidelines so you would think that strengthens the leg spinners chances of taking the most wickets again. At 4/1 I’ll pay to find out.
We saw Angelo Mathews carry the batting against England but someone will have to take on that burden in this match if the skipper misses out. Nobody in the top order looks in brilliant form at the minute so maybe someone down the order can land the top score in this game.
Thisara Perera has batted well in the cricket T20 World Cup. He’s produced scores of 12, 40 and 20 which don’t sound great but in low scoring matches they make an impact.
We’ve seen Sri Lanka really struggle against seam in this tournament and the likes of Kagiso Rabada, Chris Morris and Abbott or Steyn should they play should get stuck in here. That could leave the door open for Perera to do something hefty at a big price.
Tips
Back J.Vandersay Top Sri Lanka Bowler for a 2/10 stake at 5.00 with Betfair
Back him here:
Back T.Perera Top Sri Lanka Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 18.00 with Paddy Power
Back him here:
