South Africa and Australia meet for the first time in the Tri-Nations series on Tuesday in the third match of the tournament as the competition bids farewell to Guyana.
Australia began their campaign with a bonus point win over the West Indies so are already in a decent position. South Africa lost their first match to the West Indies so could do with picking up this win just to keep everything relatively even heading to St Kitts.
Australia
Australia were thoroughly dominant against the West Indies on Sunday even in conditions which aren’t suited to them and I’m sure they will take a lot of confidence from that. I say conditions aren’t suited to them but they do have a three prong spin attack so they have things covered from that point of view.
The tourists weren’t always completely convincing with the bat on Sunday but in Dave Warner they have a man in excellent form right now who is maturing all the time and actually that is good to see. He’s becoming a real star in all conditions and in all formats and he is doing it almost unnoticed with all the attention on AB de Villiers, Joe Root and Virat Kohli these days.
South Africa
Initially I thought South Africa were going along nicely with the bat in the opening match of the tournament on Friday but when Rilee Rossouw got out they couldn’t arrest the slide and never looked like putting up enough runs in the end.
They fought hard with the ball in their hands but one thing which was noticeable was their body language in the field. It was very un-South African like and you get the feeling all isn’t great in the dressing room. I would expect an announcement on a coaching change when this series is done.
Team News
Australia were so dominant in the first match that they are likely to name an unchanged side here but one man who is getting more and more vulnerable is Glenn Maxwell. His duck in the West Indies game didn’t look great.
South Africa are waiting for the return of Faf du Plessis from a finger issue. If he is ready to come back here then Rilee Rossouw could miss out. Morne Morkel will be chomping at the bit to be unleashed on the sidelines but his time might have to wait until wickets suit him more later in the series.
Providence Stadium
We know what we’re going to get here and that is a slow and sluggish wicket which is going to take plenty of turn. It isn’t going to be easy to score runs and the bowlers are going to be on top throughout.
I would be surprised if the match is as low scoring as the previous one here on Sunday but at the same time I don’t see it being full of runs by any stretch. Boundaries have been few and far between in the series to date too with the exception of Pollard’s barrage of sixes in the opening game.
Betting
I think we’re getting a clearer picture of how this series might go which is good from a betting point of view. We certainly know what we can expect here. We’re going to get a turning wicket which the spinners will enjoy and the batsmen won’t.
I think that makes the match outcome a little bit more of a lottery especially as neither of these sides have covered themselves in glory when playing spin in recent times so I’m a little reluctant to bet on the match result but thankfully these days with international cricket we don’t need the match result to make money. I’m going to take two in the side markets.
The first is for the highest individual score to be less than 90.5 runs. You have to go back eight ODIs on this ground for the last time someone made more than 90 and that isn’t a fluke, it is a sign of how tough the wicket is to bat on and how the pitch suits the bowlers.
Both these sides have three spin options so I’m expecting spin to be a real theme here. They also have potent new ball bowlers in Rabada and Starc so there isn’t any point where I think the batsmen will be comfortable here. Kieron Pollard’s 67 is the highest score in the series so far and I’m not expecting anyone to reach 91 and beyond here.
Adam Zampa served me well on Sunday and I see no reason not to go with him again here. He is bowling beautifully at the minute and you’ve got to think the South Africans will play Lyon much better than the West Indies did. Whether they play leg spinners as well remains to be seen.
Adil Rashid had plenty of success over South Africa earlier in the year so leg spin might be harder for the Proteas to face. Bookmakers still haven’t quite cottoned on to the quality of young Zampa so I’ll have another go at him to be the top Australia bowler while the price still allows.
Tips
WON – Back Highest individual Score – Under 90.5 runs for a 4/10 stake at 1.85 with Coral
Back it here:
Back A.Zampa Top Australia Bowler for a 2/10 stake at 4.33 with Boylesports
Back him here:
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