Cricket World Cup Preview – 1.30 pm
Saturday’s action is the last of the group stage action at the World Cup. Earlier in the day, India will be taking on Sri Lanka. If the Indians win that game then they will be top of the pile and Australia will have to win this game to claim top spot. This is the very last game of the group stage and the positioning inside the top four determines the semi-final fixtures. 1st place meets New Zealand and 2nd place meets England.
Australia v South Africa Odds*
Australia 2/5
South Africa 2/1
* (betting odds taken from Betfair on July 5th, 2019 at 8:55 pm)
Can Australia beat South Africa?
The good thing for Australia is that they will know the situation ahead of this game as to whether or not they need to win it. If India failed to beat Sri Lanka then Australia won’t even have to win this game. But the most likely scenario is that they are going to be in a situation where they need to win this game. That’s because India are red hot favourites to collect the victory in their game. So there is an exciting finish for the top two places. Australia have been red hot throughout this tournament, winning all but one of their games. So it is going to be a little hard to see them slipping in this fixture at Old Trafford against South Africa, who have had next to no form throughout this World Cup campaign.
Their one defeat was against India. That was in their third match of the campaign, so the Australians are now on a five-match winning streak and are moving nicely. They have, impressively, come up with wins in big games against England and New Zealand in their last two fixtures. A lot of their big players have turned up including David Warner, Aaron Finch and Mithcell Starc. Starc is the 2/1 favourite to be Australia’s top bowler* (betting odds taken from Betfair on July 5th, 2019 at 8:55 pm).
Australia v South Africa Head to Head
South Africa and Australia met for a three-match ODI series in November last year. Surprisingly it was South Africa who came out on top in that series 2-1. But that was when Australia were in their big slump. That’s well and truly over now though. In the last decade, there have been twenty-two matches played between the two nations. From that sequence of games, Australia are down W9 L12 against the Proteas.
Can South Africa finish on a high?
The 2019 World Cup has been nothing but disappointing for South Africa. They just haven’t been in it and a stark lack of quality has been shown by them. They were one of the first sides to get eliminated from the tournament and they are sat on just the five points from their eight games. That’s two wins and a point picked up from a washed out match for the Proteas.
Not even their key batsmen like Faf de Plessis and Quinton de Kock have managed to set the tournament alight. They will be heading home thoroughly disappointed with themselves. It’s hard to see them coming up with a big positive mental explosion to stop the Australian juggernaut. Less so if the green and gold need a win.
Predictions
The Australians are in such good, confident form that they aren’t likely to slip up here. They have the scoring threat that the Proteas can only dream of at the moment and this may well end up being a routine win for the Australians. Australia to win by 6 wickets or 51-60 runs* (betting odds taken from Betfair on July 5th, 2019 at 8:55 pm)
