Perth is the venue for the first of three ODI’s between Australia and South Africa. The game gets underway in the early hours of Sunday morning and Australia are favourites in the match result betting.
This will be the first meeting between the sides since the controversial test match series earlier this year which led to the suspension of Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft for their involvement in the ball tampering scandal. The tour comprises of limited overs matches only with 3 ODI’s followed by a single T20 international.
Australia:
Australia were whitewashed 5-0 in England in June this year and they have opted to name a new skipper for this format with Aaron Finch taking over from Tim Paine. With the 2019 World Cup looming Finch is joined by another big hitter in the shape of Chris Lynn whilst the pace attack looks strong with Hazlewood, Starc, Cummins and Coulter-Nile all in the squad.
Australia Squad: Aaron Finch (c), Josh Hazlewood (vc), Alex Carey (vc&wk), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Travis Head, Chris Lynn, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, D'Arcy Short, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa
South Africa:
Despite beating Zimbabwe 3-0 in a recent home series the Proteas didn’t really impress and they will be without JP Duminy and Hashim Amla on this tour. Chris Morris and Farhaan Behardien return to the fold and with some experienced campaigners missing and AB de Villiers no longer an option, skipper Faf du Plessis’s form will be crucial.
In their most recent ODI series on foreign soil the Proteas raced into an unassailable 3-0 lead in Sri Lanka but they lost the last 2 matches of that series. In the early part of 2018 they were outplayed on home turf by India who ran out 5-1 winners
South Africa Squad: Faf Du Plessis (c), Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Imran Tahir, Heinrich Klaasen, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Chris Morris, Lungi Ngidi, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Dale Steyn
Recent Head to Head
Sep / Oct 2016 in South Africa, South Africa won 5-0 (5 matches)
Jun 2016 Tri Series in West Indies, 3 head to heads, 1 win for South Africa, 1 win for Australia, 1 no result
Nov 2014 in Australia, Australia won 4-1 (5 matches)
Overall the teams have met in 96 ODI’s with Australia winning 47, South Africa 45 with 3 ties and 1 no result.
On home soil Australia have won 18, South Africa 17 and we have seen 1 tie.
Betting
Match Result
Australia 7/10
South Africa 12/10
Note odds quoted are an average of what was available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
The Verdict:
The names in that Australia squad do little justice to their recent ODI form but the change of skipper and a strong pace attack makes me weary of opposing them, especially as the Proteas still have a few question marks hanging over them.
I prefer the top bat and ball markets for the visitors and Rabada stands out as top bowler to me. For the top bat pick I side with Faf who is no stranger to batting well in this part of the world.
Bets: Top SA Bowler, Rabada at 28/10
Top SA bat Faf du Plessis at 4/1
Remember you can have your own say on all this week’s matches on our discussion forum
