ODI cricket

South Africa vs. England
Fifth One-Day International at Durban
Friday, December 4

Maybe something is really starting to click for England in the specialised One Day International format of their cricket game. England, after suffering a stern beating in the third of five ODI’s against South Africa, rallied to inflict the same fate upon their hosts in the fourth game. After deciding to bat first, South Africa crumbled apart under the pressure and excellent bowling by key England bowler, James Anderson. While Stuart Broad and Paul Collingwood chipped in with a couple of wickets, it was Lancashire’s Jimmy Anderson with his five wicket haul who destroyed the South African batting line-up. The hosts could only manage a lowly score of 119 all out. Anderson finished his day with fantastic figures of 5-23 off his allotted 10 overs.

In reply, England cruised to their required total, in just 31 overs, steered home by Jonathan Trott’s half century as opener. Captain Andrew Strauss chipped in with 32, and Eoin Morgan contributed with 28 from 40 deliveries. England are still waiting for Kevin Pietersen to hit the form that everyone in the world knows that he is capable of doing. He has only scored 51 runs off the bat in his three matches since returning to action after a long lay off. Thankfully he has come back into the side ahead of the Test Matches, giving him time to get back into his groove. The Test Match arena is an area where his expertise as one of the leading batsmen in the world will come into play.

England’s win means that they now have at least secured the position of not losing the series. The first ODI of the series was washed out by rain, and now England have won two of the subsequent three matches, putting them 2-1 up with just one to play. Despite England’s poor standings  in the world of One Day Internationals, they seem to like playing against South Africa of all teams, having enjoyed a lot of recent success against the Proteas, which is doubly odd as South Africa are seen as one of, if not the best team in the World at the moment.

South Africa look set to rest Dale Steyn, their potentially potent fast bowler, as a precaution for a hamstring injury he picked up. With the Test Matches being a bigger priority than ODI games, South Africa will rightly let him take it easy. The Test Match series of South Africa vs. England starts on December 16th. Meanwhile, the Proteas have named Jacques Kallis in their Test Squad, although the all-rounder has been missing from their ODI team with an injury. Kallis is such an important figure in the South Africa line-up, that they are ready to take a risk on him.

In a turn of fortunes, England look to be getting a little bit stronger as a unit, and now have a huge chance to build some more momentum ahead of the Test series, and get the South Africans looking at themselves and putting themselves and players like JP Duminy under more scrutiny. England will stick with the same team against for the fifth ODI on Friday.

South Africa vs. England – 5th ODI
South Africa to win: 8/13 at SkyBet
England to win: 6/4 at Boylesports

Don’t forget that most Online Bookmakers like Bet365 run excellent live-in play services for Cirkcet matches. You can bet on the likes of the Next Wicket to Fall, How Next Batsmen is Out and other entertaining fields like that.

South Africa vs. England Fourth ODI International
Port Elizabeth
8.00am GMT

England walk back into the lions den on Sunday, as they look to regain the upper hand over their South African counterparts. The Proteas crushed England by a massive 112 runs which saw them end a run of six defeats against the English in the One Day International format. There was some big hitting on Friday from the South Africans, who were put into bat first. The Cape Town ground on a day night match was notorious for favouring the first batting side, and that is exactly what happened  again. Batting first, South Africa raced to a massive 354-6, helped along by AB de Villiers’ 121 from just 85 balls.

England’s reply needed a steady start, something which they did not get, as they stood at 58-3 at one point. The only innings of note came from Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood again. However, with little back up coming down the order, England were soon chasing a lost cause, and were all out in the 42nd over, still more than a century in deficit of their total chase. That clearly was not what captain Andrew Strauss would have wanted, as being 1-0 up in the five day series, a second consecutive win would have at least secured a drawn series at worst, with the first ODI being rained out.

It was, in some ways expected that the home side would come out all guns a-blazing to make amends for their failure in the second ODI where England out played them. England’s bowlers did not do a good enough job of tying the up South African openers, as length and line were not being delivered with any kind of consistency. The eagerness to get Stuart Broad back into the attack was part of the downfall, as he went expensively from his first couple of overs. Jimmy Anderson, likewise was not making any kind of impact under the conditions either.

It was De Villiers though who England could not cope with, and could not find a way to stop scoring, despite the constant changes in bowling. Because South Africa posted such a huge total, it was always going to give them a chance in field, as England had to play risky shots just to try and play catch up. Andrew Strauss and Luke Wright started off well, but the risks were not always rewarded. It was only Kevin Pietersen, getting back into form and fitness, along with Collingwood who put up any kind of resistence.

So it is on to the crucial fourth ODI with the series tied at 1-1. England’s battered and bruised bowlers, Stuart Broad, Jimmy Anderson and Graeme Swann are all expected to play. England need to not be too dishearten from the hiding that South Africa gave them on Friday. England have gotten the better of the Proteas over recent times, and that is saying something as England’s ODI history is not much to write home about. Whoever wins this game will know that they cannot lose the series, and gain some huge initiative going into the 5th ODI.

England to win: 7/4 at Bet365
South Africa to win: 8/15 at 888Sport

Top England Batsman: If you fancy Paul Collingwood to continue his fine batting form, being England’s top scorer in the past two games, he is 9/2 at SkyBet.

Newlands, Cape Town
12.30pm GMT

Friday sees the third in the series of five One Day Internationals in the South Africa vs. England series. Surprisingly England have the upper hand at the moment, as they won the second game after a seven wicket win over the hosts. Paul Collingwood stepped up to the plate and knocked off a fine century, as well as getting in amongst the wickets which his medium pacers seeing him take 2-24 from six overs. The recovery from injury of James Anderson proved to be a big bonus for England, as he took 3 wickets, and Tim Bresnan helped his selection odds for the tour by taking Graham Smith as one of his two wickets.

There had been some concern over how the England bowling attack would possibly cope against the strength of the South African batting line-up. The game wasn’t a free flowing classic, more of two boxers feeling each other out in the first round of a bout, and the South African batsmen had that feel about them. Captain Andrew Strauss won the toss and set his side in the field, and the England bowlers started to make progress, limiting the Proteas to a mediocre score of just 250. More often than not though, England have failed to take advantage over any progress made in the first innings of One Day games, this time however it was a different story. The one area in which England knew they could attack, was by getting into their not-so-penetrative bowlers.

Paul Collingwood‘s century, backed up by opener Jonathan Trott’s 87 took the attack to the South African bowlers, an area of their game which was also causing concern for England supporters ahead of the series. England have not exactly embellished themselves with glory in the shorter formats of the game, and that is why this victory came as a little bit of a surprise, even though England had beaten South Africa in their previous encounter in the Champions Trophy. Now the challenge facing England is to build some momentum for the rest of the tour, and if they play competently, avoid any collapses and major rushes of blood to the head, taking a 2-0 lead in a five game series would be a huge confidence booster.

On the injury front, Stuart Broad has recovered from the injury which he picked up in England’s first warm up match, and he will return to the line-up. Spinner Graeme Swann is also on the brink of returning from injury, which will fortify the England attack over second spinner Adil Rashid who has yet to hit any kind of form in his young international career. South Africa will now come back with much gusto and have called up the experience of Herschelle Gibbs to try and inject some fire into the belly, after their re-worked batting order didn’t hit the ground running in the second One Day International.

Third One Day International (3/5)
South Africa to win: 4/7 at Totesport
England to win: 6/4 at Boylesports

Betting Advice: Believe it or not, England have won the last six ODI encounters between the two nations, and England showed something akin to controlled composure for the most part, in chasing down an average total set for them. There is still room for improvement, especially in the field, with several catching chances being dropped. Batting first in the day-nighter, should give some kind of advantage, and while the bookies still don’t have a lot of faith in England, it means there is a good chance to pick up some nice odds.
Top England Batsman: South African born Kevin Pietersen may just be coming back from injury, and he will be targeted, but he will hit out at some point and post a big score. After failing in the previous ODI, he will be fired up. Kevin Petersen – 11/2 at Totesport

Series Outright:
England – 7/4 at Bet365
Draw: 7/4 at Coral
South Africa – 5/2 at Totesport

Series Score:
Draw 2-2 – 13/8 at Blue Square
England 3-1 – 5/2 at Ladbrokes
South Africa 3-1 – 5/2 at BetFred
England 4-0 – 14/1 at Bet365

South Africa v England
First One Day International
Friday, November 20th

Whether or not Friday’s First ODI goes ahead against South Africa, for England, it could either mean a chance to get their underdog one day game going, or if not, get a few extra day’s rest so that some of their players can recuperate and get fit. The mighty Kevin Pietersen returned to action as England geared up for the first encounter against the Proteas on Friday. There are a couple of late fitness tests though to go, for Paul Collingwood (who will set a new England record for ODI appearances) and James Anderson. Graeme Swann is definitely out of the first two ODI’s as he has strained his side, which leaves only youngster Adil Rashid as a spinning option. There has been much argument over how England have employed Rashid, limiting him to just one over of bowling in England’s hammering in the second Twenty20 international. Rashid is touted as one of the most prominent young talents in English cricket, but the England management have been very cautious over using him.

Therefore, news of Swann’s injury, the number one spinner in the setup, has prompted England to call up Kent’s James Tredwell as cover, and could, depending on the conditions, be thrown straight into action less than a day after stepping off the plane in South Africa. He could be a useful weapon in turning the ball away from South Africa’s prominent left-handed batsmen. James Anderson’s knee is giving concern, and with Stuart Broad already sidelined for the first couple of ODI’s too, Liam Plunkett has found his way back into the England fold as cover. Other injury concerns have been with bowler Graham Onions and opening batsman Alastair Cook. A washed out first ODI would not be too bad a thing for the England set-up, although it would detract from some of the excitement of the five-game series, because the first game is likely to be quite aggressive, with the South African’s looking to stamp their authority over the visitors, knowing that they clearly have the better team. Training has been held indoors though because of rain on Thursday, and the day-nighter is in some kind of doubt.

The only balance that England could focus on between the two teams, would be to take the game to the South African bowlers. South Africa clearly have the batting advantage, but they have a bowling attack which can be eaten away at as long as the England batsmen do not get bogged down in the crease. It is vitally important that the England batting order punish everything that is thrown at them, for the England bowlers will have a mighty task on their hands, trying to bowl out the South African batsmen, or trying to keep them to a relatively low total. It will be down to the batsmen to make a contest of this. They need to break the shackles of conservatism and recognise that failing by playing an aggressive game, is better than failing by prodding the ball tentatively around the park looking for singles and hoping for a late flourish.

The scared-to-lose tactics of England, has meant that they have barely registered a mark on their ODI games this year, and everything points to South Africa dominating the series. England’s tried and untrusted line-up will have their hands full, and it will be somewhat of a surprise if they take anything from this series, a look at the odds will give a fair reflection of just how vast the difference in form is right now.

England: Andrew Strauss (capt), James Anderson, Tim Bresnan, Paul Collingwood, Alastair Cook, Joe Denly, Sajid Mahmood, Eoin Morgan, Graham Onions, Liam Plunkett, Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior (wk),  Adil Rashid,  James Tredwell, Jonathan Trott, Luke Wright.
 
South Africa v England First ODI
South Africa – 2/5 at SkyBet
England – 9/4 at William Hill

South Africa v England ODI Series
South Africa – 3/8 at Totesport
England – 5/2 at Ladbrokes
Drawn Series – 41/10 at Betfair