Friday's ICC Cricket World Cup action offers the Proteas the opportunity to take another stpe towards the semi finals when they take on New Zealand in Pune.
New Zealand
New Zealand have 4 wins and 2 defeats against their name and at the time of writing they were third on the log with 8 points, ahead of Australia on net run rate, 2 points behind the Proteas and 4 shy of India.
Their most recent outing against Australia ended in a tight finish with the Black Caps coming up 5 runs short of Australia's bat first total of 388 all out. Rachin Ravindra top scored with 116 and Neesham made 58 as NZ batted the full 50 overs.
That made it back to back defeats for New Zealand who went down to India by 4 wickets in their penultimate outing. They won their first 4 matches, thrashing England by 9 wickets and the Netherlands by 99 runs, then Bangladesh by 8 wickets and Afghanistan by 149 runs.
After this New Zealand take on Pakistan and then Sri Lanka.
Squads and Team News
This was how New Zealand lined up last time out.
Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (c & wk), Glenn Phillips, James Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult
Did not play: Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi, Mark Chapman (Kane Williamson has been missing through injury)
South Africa
South Africa made it 5 wins from 6 matches when they held their nerve to claim a 1 wicket victory over Pakistan last time out. Pakistan posted 270 all out in 46.4 of their 50 overs with Shamsi 4/60 and Jansen 3/43 the main wicket takers. Aiden Markram top scored with 91 for the Proteas but no other batsmen made it into the 30's and after more late wickets when Markram fell it was down to Maharaj and Shamsi to nudge the Proteas over the line after 47.2 overs.
In other recent results the Proteas beat Bangladesh by 149 runs, they dished out a record 229 hiding to England. South Africa began their tournament against Sri Lanka and they came out on top by all of 102 runs and then beat Australia by 134 runs with de Kock scoring a century in both those matches. The one blemish on the record was a surprise 38 run loss to the Netherlands.
After this South Africa take on India and they finish up against Afghanistan.
Squads and Team News
This was how the Proteas lined up last time out.
Quinton de Kock (wk), Temba Bavuma (c), Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Gerald Coetzee, Keshav Maharaj, Tabraiz Shamsi, Lungi Ngidi
Did not play: Reeza Hendricks, Kagiso Rabada, Lizaad Williams, Andile Phehlukwayo
Head to Head
Overall the teams have met 71 times with New Zealand winning 25 to South Africa's 41 with 5 no result
The teams last met in CWC 2019 and New Zealand won by 4 wickets
The Betting
New Zealand are currently trading at around 1.22/1 to win the game and South Africa can be backed at around 0.66/1
Note all prices are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
The Verdict
Two recent matches at Pune saw India easily chase down Bangladesh's 256/8 and Afghanistan were pretty comfortable chasing 242 for victory against Sri Lanka on Monday, relatively low scoring matches which didn't give us too many clues as to which players will be suited by conditions.
I'm open minded about the outcome of the match result and will first look to a couple of Player Sixes bets. Devon Conway's price took my eye and van der Dussen gets the vote to clear the ropes for the Proteas at the same odds. Mitch Santner is the pick as top NZ bowler.
Bets: Player sixes Devon Conway over 0.5 at 17/10 with Sportingbet
Player sixes ven der Dussen over 0.5 at 17/10 with Sportingbet
Top NZ Bowler Mitch Santner at 7/2 with Sportingbet
Note all prices are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
Discussion Forum
More tips, news and views are available on the CWC thread on our discussion forum. If you are new to our community you can open an account here.
