The Proteas are involved in the opening match of the ICC Cricket World Cup when they take on host nation England on Thursday and ahead of the start of tournament we look at some of the outright betting markets involving the South Africans.
How Deep Can South Africa Go?
South Africa can currently be backed at 10/1 to be crowned World Champions, a bigger price than they have been in the more recent editions of the CWC.
As far as recent form is concerned South Africa completed a 5-0 clean sweep of Sri Lanka in a home series in March this year and they were 3-2 winners at home to Pakistan in January. The Proteas also won in Australia (2-1) towards the end of 2018.
The last time the CWC was staged in England came back in 1999 and South Africa lost out in a thrilling semi final to Australia. The game finished in a tie but Australia progressed to the final because they had finished higher in the pool stage than South Africa on net run rate. That is as close as the Proteas have come to CWC glory and if you fancy them to go all the way to the final this time around they can be backed at around 7/2 whilst the price to reach the semi finals is around 12/10.
South Africa will select from the following squad:
Faf du Plessis (captain) JP Duminy, David Miller, Dale Steyn, Andile Phehlukwayo, Imran Tahir, Kagiso Rabada, Dwaine Pretorius, Quinton de Kock, Lungi Ngidi, Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, Hashim Amla, Tabraiz Shamsi, Chris Morris.
Top Team Batsman - South Africa
Betting is available on the top tournament run scorer for each nation and Quinton de Kock is favourite to be the top Proteas bat followed by the skipper Faf du Plessis.
Q De Kock 5/2
F Du Plessis 11/4
Ak Markram 4/1
Hm Amla 4/1
Da Miller 6/1
He Van Der Dussen 8/1
Jp Duminy 10/1
33/1 and bigger the rest.
Whilst the top two in the betting would be the logical choices Hashim Amla did make a welcome return to form with 65 in an 87 run warm up win against Sri Lanka last week. Amla was also going well on 51 not out when rain brought a premature end to the warm up clash with the West Indies. Youngsters Markram and van der Dussen are both free scoring players who are also capable of making big runs.
South Africa First 5 Wicket Haul
Turning attention to the bowlers and the Proteas have a strong attack but all of Dale Steyn, Lungi Ngidi and Kagiso Rabada have had injuries to overcome. Rabada was excellent in the IPL before injury and Imran Tahir is the front line spinner in his last international tournament. We are looking for the first 5 wicket haul and in the expected conditions at most venues pace may well trump spin.
Kagiso Rabada 3/1
Dale Steyn 33/10
Lungi Ngidi 33/10
Imran Tahir 7/2
Andile Phehlukwayo 4/1
Dwaine Pretorius 5/1
Chris Morris 13/2
Tabraiz Shamsi 13/2
Suggested Bets:
We go with the bat and ball markets and Faf du Plessis gets the vote to be top runscorer whilst Lungi Ngidi gets the nod to be the first SA bowler to take a 5 wicket haul.
Winning the tournament is a big ask but that 10/1 is not a bad price if you are feeling patriotic and will certainly tempt a few punters.
Top Team Batsman - South Africa, F Du Plessis 11/4
South Africa First 5 Wicket Haul, Lungi Ngidi 33/10
Click here for all the outright CWC markets.
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