South Africa and Pakistan move on to Newlands, Cape Town for the second test in a three match series. The game gets underway on Thursday and the Proteas have taken early control of the series.
Centurion was the venue for the first test of this series and the Proteas came out on top with a 6 wicket victory in 3 days.
The seamers on both sides found conditions at Supersport Park to their liking, especially Duanne Olivier who took 6 wickets in the first innings and 5 more in the second. Pakistan won the toss and opted to bat first but their innings lasted just 47 overs as they were bowled out for 181. It could have been even worse as Pakistan were 111/8 at one stage but Babar Azam hit a brisk 71.
The Proteas also struggled in their reply but the main resistance came in the middle order with Bavuma top scoring with 53 and Quinton de Kock made 45 whilst Mohammad Amir and Shaheen Afridi both took 4 wickets.
The Proteas lead at the half way stage was smallish but still pretty useful although at 101/1 in their second innings the visitors looked to be on course to set a challenging target. However they crumbled to 190 all out despite 57 from opener Imam ul Haq and 65 from Shan Masood with Olivier once again the chief destroyer.
South Africa still had to negotiate their way through a tricky spell in the fourth innings but Elgar made 50 and Amla returned to form unbeaten on 65. Faf du Plessis was out for a duck in both innings and Olivier was an obvious choice as Man of the Match.
This was how the teams lined up at Centurion.
South Africa: Faf du Plessis (capt), Hashim Amla, Temba Bavuma, Theunis de Bruyn, Quinton de Kock, Dean Elgar, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Duanne Olivier, Kagiso Rabada, Dale Steyn
Pakistan: Imam-ul-Haq, Fakhar Zaman, Shan Masood, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam, Sarfaraz Ahmed (C, Wk), Yasir Shah, Hassan Ali, Md Amir, Shaheen Afridi
The Venue, Newlands, Cape Town
The Proteas have a solid record at Newlands. Over the course of the last 10 years they have won 9, drawn 3 and lost 1 of 13 tests with the sole defeat coming against Australia in 2014.
The most recent test match at this venue came in March 2018 and South Africa beat Australia by 322 runs with scores of 311 and then 373 to Australia’s 255 and 107.
In January 2018 South Africa beat India by 72 runs with the home side posting totals of 286 and then 130 whilst India replied with 209 and 135.
On Pakistan’s tour of South Africa in 2013 the Proteas won the Newlands test by 4 wickets.
Betting - Match Result
South Africa 7/20
Draw 6/1
Pakistan 9/2
Note: Prices are an average of what was available at the time of writing but are subject to change
The Verdict:
I’ll first look to the top Pakistan 1st innings bat market and Shan Masood’s knock at Centurion really caught my eye. With question marks against the top order he looks nicely priced to me.
In the batsmen match market at WSB I like Elgar to outscore Markram. Elgar has a ton against his name at this venue in the past 12 months and he did well to help the Proteas to victory with a steady knock in the final innings of the first test of this series.
Bets: Top Away Bat (1st Innings) Shan Masood at 5/1
Batsman Matches - Most Runs Elgar / Markram at 17/20
Remember you can have your own say on all this week’s matches on our discussion forum
