Couch Critic provides his betting tips for the first test match between South Africa and England which gets underway in Centurion on Boxing Day
Off the back of a disastrous tour of India and given the state of turmoil in South African cricket due to administrative mis-management many would have been ready to back the English tourists with whatever funds remain after the Festive spending spree. However, as the opening clash of the four-match test series approaches, the outcome seems to have become much less certain. Here is how I see things going down in the series and especially the Boxing Day Test.
SETTING THE SCENE FOR THE SERIES
The Proteas now have the old guard at the helm and the trio of Smith, Boucher and Kallis will be intent on getting one over the Poms in their very first assignment. The truth is that this Protea squad is far from the all dominant one which the aforementioned trio was a big part of. The SA squad tasked with tackling England hardly have a world class batsman in their midst. The likes of Smith, Amla, Kallis and De Villiers (all with averages in excess of fifty - or very close to it) have moved on and Faf du Plessis remains as the stalwart of the South African batting line-up despite not nearly being in the category of the big names mentioned earlier. Elgar brings fight, Markram offers potential and Hamza promises the future yet the cold fact as that this team is hardly the finished article in it's 2019/20 guise.
England pitch up with some big name bowlers. Broad and Anderson are English legends who have led their test attack for the past decade. Jofra Archer arrives on South African shores touted as the new super star fast bowler expected to be in his element in these conditions. Yet in reality Broad has been struggling with a bug and Anderson is trying to blow life back into his test career as he returns from a serious injury. Archer is a phenomenal white ball cricketer but jury is still out regarding his red ball, multi day capacity. Batting wise the visitors have questions of their own to answer. Burns, Denly and Pope are all likely to be part of their top 6 - between them they have played 30 test and none average over 35. Joe Root and Ben Stokes will yet again carry a lot of responsibility with the willow.
FIRST TEST - CENTURION
The traditional Boxing Day Test is an institution in South Africa. After the Durbanites (as well as the weather) proved to be a damp squid at Kingsmead the powers that be toyed with how to rejuvenate the local event held from 26 December. Centurion has become the new host and after a decent occasion this time last year it seems those unfortunate souls finding themselves in Pretoria during this time of the year could get use to the fact that at least they will have some cricket to watch whilst others frolic around at the coast.
Last year the Pakistanis had no answer for the pace and bounce of Duanne Olivier. England should be much more accustomed to this type of bowling and should be better equipped to deal with it. Talk in the lead up to the test from the English camp was that they could potentially be considering an all pace attack for this first test.
BETTING ANGLE
I'm expecting the Proteas to be well up for this one. Yes some of the local lads come into this test with little red-ball cricket under their belts but the visitors find themselves a bit on the wrong foot thanks to illness in the camp. Boucher and his crew know that they need to hit their opponents hard, early. I really am looking forward to this tussle between two test sides not exactly at their prime but both desperate to pick up a crucial series win to get them moving in the right direction.
Series wise I expect the cream to rise to the top in this age old rivalry between the British and the men from the republic. Root and Du Plessis will be ready to go to battle to lead their team to success. KG Rabada has seen a bit of a dip in his form of late (many feel due to an overloaded work rate) but I reckon the SA quick will be raring to have a go at the Poms.
At Supersport Park I will stick to my tactic of backing batsmen a bit lower down the order to have success since the new ball really is a serious threat in Pretoria. I am also looking at James Anderson to make a fiery return to test cricket.
Series Bets:
Top SA Batsman - F Du Plessis @ 3.50
Top ENG Batsman - J Root @ 3.00
Top SA Bowler - KG Rabada @ 3.00
First Test:
Top ENG Bowler - J Anderson @ 3.50
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change
Couch Critic
