CWC Austrlia150The final match of the round robin stage of the Cricket World Cup sees South Africa end their tournament against semi finals bound Australia in Manchester on Saturday.

 

 

 

Australia:

Australia’s most recent action came against New Zealand at Lords last weekend. They were already assured of a semi final place but there was no let up as they came out on top by 86 runs.

Batting first Australia were in trouble at 92/5 but Usman Khawaja (88) and Alex Carey (71) put on a century partnership for the sixth wicket and the innings closed on 243/9 on a difficult batting surface. Jason Behrendorff then removed both New Zealand openers and Mitchell Starc joined the party with a 5 wicket haul as New Zealand were bowled out for 157 in 43.4 overs.

Australia now have 7 wins and 1 defeat against their name and will finish their round robin stage in the top 2 of the standings. If India win their final round robin match against Sri Lanka on Saturday, Australia will need to win this to secure top spot. Whichever team tops the log will take on the fourth placed side (almost certainly New Zealand) whilst the runner up will clash with third placed England.

Earlier results saw Australia beat Afghanistan by 7 wickets and West Indies by 14 runs. They lost to India (36 runs) and beat Pakistan by 41 runs, Sri Lanka by 87 runs, Bangladesh by 48 runs and England by 64 runs.

David Warner is leading run scorer for Australia with 516, Aaron Finch and has made 504 and Usman Khawaja has 298. With the ball Starc has taken 24 wickets, Pat Cummins has 12 and Jason Behrendorff has 8 from just 3 matches.

This was how Australia lined up against New Zealand last time out.

David Warner, Aaron Finch (capt), Usman Khawaja, Steven Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Jason Behrendorff

 

 

South Africa:

Any hope of a semi final place had evaporated long before South Africa took to the field against Sri Lanka at Durham on Friday 28th June but the Proteas responded with a 9 wicket victory.

Sri Lanka, who had beaten England in their previous outing, were bowled out for 203 in 49.3 overs with Dwaine Pretorius returning figures of 3/25 from his 10 overs and Chris Morris also claimed 3 wickets. Although Malinga removed Quinton de Kock with the score on 31 Hashim Amla (80 not out) and Faf du Plessis (96 not out) took South Africa home in 37.2 overs. The Proteas skipper came close to what would have been the first century for a South African in this tournament.

The Proteas now have a record of 2 wins alongside 5 defeats and 1 no result with the only other victory coming against Afghanistan (9 wickets DLS). The defeats came against England (104 runs), Bangladesh (24 runs), India (6 wickets), New Zealand (4 wickets) and Pakistan (49 runs) and no result was possible in their clash with West Indies.

Faf du Plessis is leading run scorer for South Africa with 287, Quinton de Kock has 253 and Rassie van der Dussen has 216. Chris Morris is leading wicket taker with 12, Imran Tahir has 10, Andile Phehlukwayo has 9.

This is how South Africa lined up against Sri Lanka last time out.

Quinton de Kock (wk), Hashim Amla, Aiden Markram, Faf du Plessis (capt), Rassie van der Dussen, JP Duminy,Dwaine Pretorius, Andile Phehlukwayo, Chris Morris, Kagiso Rabada, Imran Tahir

 

Head to Head

The teams have met 99 times with Australia winning 48, South Africa have won 47 with 3 ties and 1 no result.

The most recent series came in Australia in November 2018 and South Africa won it 2-1.

 

The Betting, Click here for all markets

Australia 9/20

South Africa 18/10

Note prices quoted are correct at the time of publication but are subject to change.

 

Verdict:

We focus on the Player Performance market where 1 point is awarded per run, 20 per wicket and 10 per catch for a betting interest.

Faf du Plessis is taken to beat his current quote. He was in good touch against Sri Lanka with the bat and is also a safe pair of hands in the field.

 

Suggested Bets:

Player Performance, Faf du Plessis, over 40.5 at 9/10

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