England’s target this year in the ODI cricket scene is to go on the hunt for the Champions Trophy. But first in their build up towards that, they have a big, big ask ahead of them as they play host to the top ODI side in the world at the moment, South Africa. This will really open England’s eyes as to their status and perhaps ability to land this year’s Champions Trophy.
England (4/5 for the match win at Coral) have the scoring power of course through Eoin Morgan, Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler who have all been carrying form through the IPL season and throw top-ranked batsman Joe Root in there and you have some powerful hitters. But it is perhaps in the bowling department where England could find themselves struggling against a very good batting line-up that the Proteas have.
England’s pace bowlers in the ODI game aren’t always as accurate as they need to be and they will be in danger of being picked off. South Africa are on a seven-series winning streak (two-team series only) and so they are a major, major force. Not only do they have AB De Villiers who is the top-ranked ODI batsman in the world, but also the top bowler in Imran Tahir. The Proteas bring with them four of the top eleven batsmen in the world and that is where they can hurt the hosts.
South Africa have a lot of strength in depth through the middle order and will make England toil, and after good victories over Sussex and Northamptonshire, they are a very tempting 11/10 punt at Coral to go and land this first ODI game in the series. There is a lot of batting power through both teams and it is worth looking for both teams to hammer out over 300 runs in their respective innings in what should be a competitive battle at Headingley. This is a three-match series.
There are a couple of sound-looking wagers in the batting. Joe Root is a great 10/3 option in the Coral Top England Batsman market, but Ben Stokes is a big 7/1 punt and he was a top scorer at Headingley last year against Pakistan. Naturally, AB de Villiers is going to be heavily backed in the Top South African Batsman market. In the Top Batsman market at Coral, De Villiers is a 7/1 joint-favourite alongside Hashim Amla and Joe Root.
Prediction: South Africa are well worth a punt here. They have three of the world’s top seven batsmen going for them in this one and Amla is eleventh in the world. Joe Root is the only English batsman in the current top fifteen and England’s bowlers may just fall short in this match against that kind of batting power. Back the tourists to grab the opening match of the series.
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