south africa vs england

South Africa vs. England Fourth Test, Johannesberg January 14th – 18th: It is not often that you see a South African cricket team under so much pressure. Certainly is hasn’t been that way in recent times, as the Proteas have risen to the top of the cricket world. But the arrival of England in the Rainbow Nations has set the cat amongst the pigeons. With the score at 1-0 in the visitor’s favour, and with just one test left to play in the series, the South Africans, led by Graham Smith, needs to rally everything they can to save themselves from utter embarrassment of losing a series on home soil. This is the side that not too long ago in terms of test cricket, who beat Australia somewhat comprehensively, and little chance was given to England on their tour.

It is not as if England have been great, but they have been battling. Boy, have they been battling. From saving the first test, to a brilliant batting performance to win the second, England again had their backs against the walls, needing Graham Onions’ defensive batting skills to get them out of trouble. Onions had to survive the last over to hang onto a draw which should have been a lot more comfortable that it should have been in the end. But there are a lot of positives to take from England’s displays so far, even if they have not collectively been brilliant. On the batting front, Ian Bell has rewarded the selectors with some controlled play, sticking around and posting scores at number six, just when England needed a steadying hand the most.

Where England would have been without Paul Collingwood too, on the tour, makes one wonder. Colly has arguably been England’s star performer, in the field and with the bat. He has that stick-ability to bring everything under control, and when he needs to simply defend his stumps, he looks more than comfortable. He is often the glue that holds performances together. Jonathan Trott has shown glimpses of his value to the England batting line-up, looking accomplished and a fine stroke player, even if he has been ruffling the feathers of South Africa with his long preparations as the crease. Alistair Cook has also found his runs again, but needs to have a little more self belief. The one failure in the batting department has been Kevin Pietersen. OK, he has come back from a long injury, but there will still have been a little more expected of him. He has looked hesitant and a long way out of form.

What has been one of the major factors, is that the South Africans haven’t been whipping down the England wickets as much as they were expected to. At times the bowling from the Proteas has looked as uninventive and predictable as a lot of England’s bowlers were expected to produce. Ntini was guilty of being the worst of the South African bowlers, which cost his place, and only in the third Test did Dale Steyn look anything like the true world class bowler that he is. But the support has not been there, and that was supposed to be England’s problem. Morne Morkel has been blowing hot and cold, and Paul Harris in the battle of the spinners with England’s Graeme Swann has definitely looked second best. Now with Friedel de Wet, Ntini’s replacement looking likely to miss the fourth Test, South Africa could be forced into some changes. Wayne Parnell looks the likely replacement, and will be making his test debut after stepping out of the One Day format. But as well as beefing up the bowling, they need a more steadying presence at opener as well.

Perhaps after beating Australia in the Ashes last year, coming away from South Africa, not having lost the series, should not be so much of a surprise. England have chosen their moments to attack when necessary, despite playing themselves into trouble at times. Even positives can be taken from that, in that they have been on the brink a couple of times, but managed to fall and collapse completely to the point of defeat. The reverse swing of this, will be that it will have been increasingly frustrating for South African cricket that they have not been able to produce that killer instinct when needed. They have pushed England to the brink, but they could not topple them over. A lot of credit has to be given to Andrew Strauss and England for that.

So the Fourth Test should see the Proteas fired up and ready to get stuck into England. It has been reported that Captain Smith wants a quick, attacking track, so that they can try and force the game one way or other (this will reduce the chances of a draw if you are thinking of betting on a drawn match outcome). That is exactly what South Africa will need to do. They need to take the game to England and to try and stop England simply doing their best to sway proceedings towards a drawn game. That is all England need to do, but will need to be wary of not falling into the trap of going out there on the first morning and playing for a draw from the outset. They need to keep doing what they have been doing well, and improve upon the things they have not been. There is plenty to more to come from the England bowlers one feels, even the Stuart Broad and James Anderson have had their moments in the sun, they too need a little more penetration. Graham Onions has been consistent with his bowling but has not taken as many wickets as an England fan would like to see, and much of the bowling spotlight has been rightly focused on spinner Graeme Swann. Swann has dominated with the ball, and made so many important break-through. He has given the South African batsmen plenty to think about, and more, mixing up his deliveries well, something which Monty Panesar could not do.

So the two combatants will enter the arena again on Thursday, with a lot to play for. The crowds have been brilliant so far, and the cricket has lived up to the expectations. There have been thrilling finishes, issues over the referral system and allegations of ball tampering with Stuart Broad standing on the ball. The Fourth Test promises as much excitement again with both a momentous Test series victory, and a morale breaking defeat on the line.

South Africa vs. England Fourth Test Outright Winner
South Africa to win: 13/8 at BetFred
Draw: 15/8 at SportingBet
England to win: 5/2 at Ladbrokes

Top England Batsman – Andrew Strauss 6/1 at 888Sport
Top South Africa Batsman – Hashim Alma 5/1 at Ladbrokes

Top England Bowler – Graeme Swann 11/4 at Stan James
Top South African Bowler – Dale Steyn 2/1 at Blue Square

South Africa v England
Cape Town
January 3rd to 7th

After a stirring display from their batsmen, England head to the third test against South Africa, one game up in the series of four. It was a monumental effort by England in the Second Test, with Alistair Cook and Ian Bell both chipping in with centuries, taking the tourists past the South African first innings total. Declaring finally with a score of 574, it left the Proteas chasing down England’s first innings lead  of 231. On a pitch which only offered sporadic help for the bowlers, South Africa should have looked set to play out at least to a draw. But England’s bowlers had different ideas, tearing apart the South African top order.

Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann did the damage, with Broad ripping through out four  wickets, and Swann 5 in the second innings, aptly picking up the final South African wicket to seal the Test victory. Spinner Swann picked up 9 wickets in total in the Test, picking up the man of the match award. It has been a long rise to fame for Swann, who is in some great form, and looks to be a real match winner for England, putting in tons of over’s. The pitches were not expected to favouring the spin so much, but as displayed, things have not been as quick out in the middle as expected.

South Africa will probably be hurting now, after failing to close out victory in the first Test between the two nations, in which England just about managed to hold on for a draw. It was a completely different story however this time around, with England looking fluent and full of attacking flair. From Cook to Collingwood with the bat, the England batsmen made light work of some poor bowling from South Africa, especially from Makhaya Ntini.

So the winter tour moves on to Cape Town, with the team awaiting news on Paul Collingwood’s injured finger, which may keep him out of the test. Collingwood his 91 in England’s innings and has been one of England’s best and most consistent performers on the tour so far. If he doesn’t make it, then Skipper Andrew Strauss will have some thinking to do with regards to shuffling his pack. He has the option to throw in another bowler, or bring a specialist all-rounder, which would probably be Luke Wright, and that would lift Ian Bell up the pecking order.

South Africa are surprisingly looking a little bit more vulnerable than their status in World Cricket would suggest. Their bowling attack has not looked quite a lethal as one would have imagined, but they do still remain a classy batting act. They can be forgiven a collapse, and it was simply some collective poor misjudgement when leaving balls, that were their  undoing in the second innings, which took them down to 50-6 after a rash of wickets from Stuart Broad. While the Proteas will stick with the batting line-up, England can expect to face some different bowlers. They have the option to bring back in Friedel de Wet, who took five wickets on his debut in the first test. Ntini would probably step aside.

South Africa vs. England Third Test (3 of 4)
South Africa to win: 17/11 at Expekt
Draw: 7/4 at Bet365
England to win: 5/2 at SportingBet

South Africa vs. England Series Outright
England – 8/11 at Victor Chandler
Draw: 13/5 at Totesport
South Africa – 5/1 at Paddy Power

Betting Advice: This is a crucial match in the series, as England could wrap it up, and South Africa suddenly look more worried about their ability to take twenty wickets, than England do. Swann and Broad put in 38 overs in the second out of the 50 bowled. That is how dangerous they were looking, with Jimmy Anderson and Graham Onions left to fill in bit part roles. Cape Town is one of those tough places  to go in World Cricket, as there is a certain air of invincibility about South Africa there. England have lost the last three tests played there. Although they showed a lack of fight by going off the boil, expect South Africa to come out fired up.

South Africa vs England Second Test
Kingsmead
Starts December 26th

Where do the England cricket team turn to next? There has been much talk of how England’s stubborn defence in the face of adversity, saw them to a draw in the First Test against South Africa, just as it did in the Ashes of the summer against Australia. That’s all well and good, but they got themselves into a situation that should not have transpired. Yes, they survived, but unlike in the summer, the difference here, is that England do not have the comfort of playing at home in condititions suited to their bowlers, and this will be a huge factor considering the South Africans are likely to be getting stronger when pace bowler Dale Steyn returns for the second test.

England’s bowling is in question, perhaps not over the quality, but the variety of threat of which they are able to pose. Aside from Graeme Swann spinning his way through a lot of overs and getting his just rewards, Graham Onions looked the next best bowler, only by the fact that he showed a lot of control and consistency. However, even that did not look as threatening as it should have been against the South African batsmen. England do not have the luxury of calling anyone into the team from the squad, who will provide a spark of something different to help the cause.

One can wax lyrical about the greatness of Andrew Flintoff, but his day as Test player for England has gone, and it is evident that there is no-one there to replace the big man. England are lacking a serious, fast paced impact bowler to mix things up. On his day, James Anderson can tear through defences, but the conditions in South Africa do not appear to be suiting him. England rely heavily on great swing bowling, something that Anderson and Ryan Sidebottom (who is not as fast as Anderson), do well back in England.

There was debate over whether or not Andrew Strauss should have gone with five bowlers for the attack in the First Test. Sidebottom would be the best option, ahead of Liam Plunkett, who does offer a bit more pace, but has been on the periphery. But is there a point, if the ball is not going to swing for Sidebottom? He has made an impact in the tour, taking a five wicket haul after coming back from injury in a warm up game, but Strauss will also be worried by the fact that the batting completely collapsed in the second innings of the first test. Everything on the final afternoon should have been a lot more comfortable than it was. It took Graham Onions to see out the last over and salvage a draw for England.

If another bowler comes in, then Ian Bell, who failed again to make an impact, would go out. That would leave more pressure on Matt Prior and Stuart Broad with the bat, as they move up the order. England have problems at the top of the order with Alistair Cook unable to find an ounce of form, so is it better to have two below par batsmen in, and sacrifice again on the extra bowler. That will probably be the case as the selectors will probably stick with the same team, not expecting conditions at Kingsmead to suit the England style of bowling attack.

Graeme Smith, South Africa’s captain, has already started his Alex Ferguson style mentality games, citing that England are probably scarred from the horrendous collapse they suffered, which started with a rush of blood to the head from Kevin Pietersen when he was looking well set for a century. South Africa, on paper, and on the field, look much the stronger team, but England have this hit and miss quality. They can catch fire and look great, but then look embarrasingly bad at times, mostly when it is largely down to being the orchestrator of their own downfall. Put simply, South Africa have options, where the England touring party do not.

But no doubt Andrew Strauss would see it another way, England could have collapsed and suffered a defeat, which would have been worse, after seeing five wickets go for just 13 runs. Onions and man of the series so far, Paul Collingwood, showed some stiff upper lip to survive. Perhaps it is Smith who would be suffering more, for failing to take advantage of the situation and win. If South Africa get ahead in the series, it could be curtains for England, as they will be demoralised and it will be a long way back. The second test is crucial, and the England coaches have a lot of work to do, to patch up some holes in the England team.

South Africa vs. England Series (4 matches)
South Africa to win – 5/6 at William Hill
Draw: 3/1 at SkyBet
England to win: 100/30 at Boylesports

South Africa vs. England Second Test
South Africa to win: 7/4 at SportingBet
Draw: 13/8 at 888Sport
England to win: 7/2 at BetFred

Betting Advice: England will need a slightly better showing from their top six batsman if they are to compete in the Second Test. Kevin Pietersen looks as if he is getting back to form, and that is such a massive thing for England. He, Strauss, Trott and Collingwood are carrying the team at the moment, and it needs someone else to step up, simply because it is going to be another hard toil for England to take 20 wickets in the conditions.

With the plethora of International Test Match and One Day International cricket which is happening around the globe at the moment, there are great opportunities to pick up some Live In-Play betting odds. Whether you are following the opening Test between South Africa vs. England, or the West Indies’ tour of Australia, or New Zealand vs Pakistan, or whether it is the enticing series between India and Sri Lanka, then there are no shortage of bets to pick up while the action is playing live. The South Africa vs. England Test match is being shown on Sky, and therefore SkyBet is a good place to keep an eye on the match, as well as trying to pick up some winners as the day progresses.

SkyBet offers a comprehensive service when it comes to total sport. Whether it is just following excellent news coverage, or exploring the opportunities on their betting site, SkyBet will provide everything you need. Live In Play betting is something which enhances the experience of on-line betting, because as opposed to just putting a fixed odds bet on the outcome of a sporting event, you can watch a match in action and get a fair idea of what is going to happen next. Maybe your top scoring batsmen bet gets shot down in flames within the first 5 Overs of the day’s play, you can at least try and redeem yourself with SkyBet’s Live In Play betting.

Cricket, as well as football are great sports for this, but certainly are not exclusive to just those two. When following the cricket action live, there are many chances to capitalise upon. Take the first day’s action of South Africa vs. England. In comes Jacques Kallis, returning from injury, and once he is in and looking settled, he put the below-par England bowlers to task. This is when Live In Play betting comes into its own, whether you back the batsman or the bowler. You can usually take odds on who the next batsman out is going to be, how the dismissal will be made (e.g. caught, bowled or run-out). If you want to back the batsman, then you should be able to get live odds on a settled player hitting a century. With England pretty much restricted to three bowlers due to Graham Onions tweaking his hamstring, there wasn’t enough swing for Jimmy Anderson to operate properly, and it was clear that Stuart Broad was well out of shape. So that left the bulk of the wicket opportunities down to spinner Graeme Swann, who would have been great to back, when he was in action.

These are just some of the kinds of opportunities to look out for while following Live In Play options with SkyBet. Other markets you should be able to pick up, are the amount of runs scored in the next over, innings total runs, who will make the most runs in an innings, who will take the most wickets in an innings, and again looking at the South Africa vs England First Test, JP Duminy to hit 50 is 1/5 at SkyBet (he’s currently on 38).

If you need more reasons to join SkyBet, then here are some: One notable inclusion of a promotional offer, is that as a customer of SkyBet, you can get access to Sky Sports on your PC through their promotions page. You can get all of your losing outright bets on the 2010 World Cup refunded if England lift the trophy in South Africa! You can win tickets to Cheltenham Races, as well as SkyBet’s Super 6 weekly competition, in which you have to predict the scores of six pre-determined football matches. To top it all off, there is the customary welcome for new account holders, in the case of SkyBet it comes in the form of a free £10 matched bet. Just open a new account, place your first bet, and SkyBet will match it up to the value of £10. Check out SkyBet’s promotion page and terms and conditions for details of all their great offers.

Current SkyBet odds South Africa vs England First Test
Draw: Evens
South Africa to win: 5/4
England to win: 5/1

More betting information:
The betting site

South Africa v England
December 16th to 20th
SuperSport Park, Centurion

England’s selection problems for the forthcoming first Test against South Africa, is all about the bowlers. Over the limited warm-up matches ahead of this opening contest the England bowlers have shown some bursts of impressive form, just not all of them at one time. This points to a little bit of individualism as opposed to a team coming together in unity with form. That will be a wee bit worrying for England fans who are awaiting the contests against the Proteas, because it looks to be a case of, if one man isn’t on top of his game, then the bowling attack is going to look limp.

England have had serious injury problems in the bowling department, since arriving in South Africa. Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Graham Swann and Ryan Sidebottom have all problems which have hindered their tours. Fortunately though it looks as if they are all getting back somewhere to full fitness, and it is a bit of a shame that the build up has been a bit fragmented, and hopefully it won’t affect the matches too much against a strong South African team. Graham Swann, who is an important part of the attack, took a 6 wicket haul in one match, James Anderson produced a great display with a five wicket haul of his own, and the most recent stand out performer was Ryan Sidebottom who took 5-42 in England’s final warm up match

In all interests, England skipper Andrew Strauss will be hoping that both of his fast bowlers, Anderson and Sidebottom can take part in Wednesday’s series opener. England need them, even though they have been struggling to be fully fit, in Anderson’s case, for the past couple of months. Sidebottom at full fitness and form is the perfect guy to cause the South African’s problems. Sidebottom certainly is a more attractive proposition than perhaps Graham Onions, who is a steady performer, but has yet to really stamp his authority at the highest level. Liam Plunkett is the other fringe bowler, but he should be down the pecking order behind Onions at best.

There is a call for England to go with five bowlers, simply because of the pitch, which could favour the batsmen, especially the big hitting Proteas. For a fragile England bowling attack, it could be a lot of hard work for them to take 20 wickets in the match between four of them. This is where the missing presence of Andrew Flintoff will still be hurting England, yes, even after this time. There is no one to fill his shoes, but perhaps there is a need for Luke Wright, as an all-rounder, to step out of the One Day International fold and start performing in the Test Arena.

The South African team harnesses a lot of batting power, and they will be geed up by the fact that veteran Jacques Kallis has made a full recovery from an injury which kept him out of the One Day International series. With Graeme Smith, AB de Villiers, Dale Steyn and Makhaya Ntini, the South Africans are not going to be a push-over. England have a little momentum after winning a rain-effected ODI series against the Proteas, but even in those games, the South Africans showed glimpses of just how dangerous they can be. Maybe South Africa are not as quite on top of the world as rankings have recently suggested, but they are side who are a capable of beating anyone in the world. England, who won Team of the Year at the Sports Personality of the Year event on the back of their Ashes victory, are a stronger Test side than One Day team.

Andrew Strauss just needs everyone fit and to get everything from his bowling attack. That is where games are won and lost, for not having the confidence in your bowlers to defend a big total, or to skittle out the opposition in a furious spell, makes their own batsmen hesitant at the crease. There is still some coming together as a team needed by England, but they have shown a degree of that in the short from of the game. If the weather is on their side, and key men like Anderson and Swann can stay fit, it should be a close series.

Betting Advice. England have lost six of their first seven Test matches in a series, which helps shorten the odds on a South African win, but they do like playing against the Proteas. There are still some question marks over the strength of the England team, not only because of injury, but because of the form of the likes of Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen. They have the components to compete, but on a team level, they are not as solid as the South Africans.

South Africa vs. England First Test
South Africa to win: 13/10 at Boylesports
Draw: 7/4 at Ladbrokes
England to win: 7/2 at Boylesports

Series outright
South Africa to win: 4/6 at SkyBet
Draw: 15/4 at Boylesports
England to win: 10/3 at Extrabet

With the South Africa vs. England Test Match Cricket series on the doorstep, we take a look at the viability of using spread betting in Cricket. Spread betting can be looked at in two ways, and cricket does offer plenty of chances to try and make a profit. The first area to look at is the simple handicap basis of Spread Betting which is favoured in the UK, which involves taking a slightly different perspective on a sporting event. Spread Betting simply does not look at who will win or lose, like in fixed odd bets, but it takes a more detailed look of how a game will exactly play out. The point of Spread Betting is to try and level the playing field when it comes to a highly favoured team playing against a much weaker one, and it takes into consideration what type of game it is likely to be. When it comes to cricket, taking what kind of pitch is going to be in play. If it is a flat and lifeless pitch, then batting is going to be predominant and high scores will prevail. The other side of this is a slightly moist wicket with overcast conditions with favour the bowlers.

Say for example, that a bookmaker, the middle man in this event, offers a points spread of 50 on a One Day International Match. This means that the punter can take the points on the underdog, in this case we’ll say England (being the visiting team). If, at the final score, England lose by anything less than 50 points, the punter will win the bet. For example, if the final scores are South Africa 250, England 225 (+50 points from the bet), that means England have won the spread. If however, England lost to a score of South Africa 250, England 199 (+50 points from the bet), the bet will be lost because they still didn’t manage to meet South Africa’s total. Bookmakers in Spread Betting do not really care about the win/loss result, as everything is guided by the points, so a losing team can still win punters money. However, if the punter was to think that there is no way that England, even with a points spread of 50 are going to the win the match, then the reverse of the above will come into play. If the Punter fancies South Africa, no matter what the points spread against them is, then they can give the points, meaning as long as South Africa win by 50 points or more, the bet will be won.

The other angle of Spread Betting comes in the potential of losing more than just the initial stake, as with fixed odds betting. As this type of betting is more popular in North America, the Spread Betting system is more of an Under/Over system but again with a difference to the fixed odds version of it. This type of spread betting is generally applied to the total number of points scored in the match by both sides, and again is popular for North American sports, such as American Football. For Cricket though, this can work in a punter’s favour, again by taking into consideration the state of the pitch, which will determine a high scoring game or not. So, for the forthcoming South Africa vs. England First Test, a bookmaker may set a point total at 1000.5. In this example you would lay a bet of, for example £10, and the more right that you are with a bet, the more you will win. You either sell the points (going low) if you think that the total score will be under 1000 runs, or you would buy the points (going high) if you think it is a great batting pitch and the amassed runs will be over 1000.

With that in place, here is where money is won or lost, basing the above on a punter buying or selling at a stake of £10. If the final total of runs is 995, and the punter sold the points, they would win five times their stake (1000 runs minus 995 runs scored = 5 runs). So the punter would win £10 x 5, as this Spread Betting is based on determining the more specific outcome of a match. However, here within lies the potential for losing money. If that same punter had sold the points exactly the same, but the total runs in the match were 1005, then he would lose the bet and money to the degree of 1000 runs + 5 extra scored above the Points Spread,  which equals a loss of £10 x 5 = £50 lost. If you are looking for pointers, then England average around 580 runs per match the last time they were in South Africa, while the Proteas average was just above 600.

While that may sound scary, it encompasses the view that Spread Betting is more intense when it comes to gambling, and you are not going to know the potential rewards or losses until the end of play. With Cricket, a look at Sporting Index, a top Spread Betting online bookmaker, will show that there are plenty of fields for the forthcoming Test Series, which you can employ Spread Betting. From the correct series score, to individual batsman performances, the average score of all players who hit a century in the match to name but a few, so there are plenty of options there. You can also, if you are unsure whether this type of betting is right for you, decide to run an account which plays with tokens instead of real money, just for practice.

Other Spread Betting Jargon that is worth looking out for, is the Stop-Loss, and if you have this applied to an account, all of your bets will be subjected to a maximum profit and loss in relation to the initial stake. This will help eliminate some of the risks of losing big. The Push, is when a game is tied and no money is won or loss, which is often negated by Bookies posting half-odds, such as 35.5. Learning how to Spread Bet safely will add an exciting new dimension to your gambling practices. Sporting Index is a good place to start, as they offer a comprehensive help guide to try and welcome new people into their fold, especially by the attractive employment of their Training Centre. Sporting Index also offer some good promotions for people opening new accounts, and you even get to chose which one suits you from a list of half a dozen.

Fixed Odds Betting for South Africa vs. England Test Series
South Africa to win: 4/6 at Ladbrokes
Drawn Series: 15/4 at BoyleSports
England to win: 100/30 at SportingBet