The ODI series between Sri Lanka and South Africa gets underway on Sunday when the first contest takes place in Dambulla.
The Proteas were hammered in the two match test series which started this tour. They lost both contests by wide margins, going down by 278 runs in the first and 199 in the second and the bulk of their struggles came in the batting department.
We now move into the ODI’s with the first two matches staged in Dambulla before we move on to Pallekele for the third and fourth matches and we finish up in Colombo. Let’s start with the squads.
Sri Lanka Squad:
Angelo Mathews(c), Dasun Shanaka, Kusal Perera, Dhananjaya de Silva, Upul Tharanga, Kusal Mendis, Thisara Perera, Niroshan Dickwella, Suranga Lakmal, Lahiru Kumara, Kasun Rajitha, Akila Dananjaya, Prabath Jayasuriya, Lakshan Sandakan, Shehan Jayasuriya
South Africa Squad:
Faf du Plessis(c), Hashim Amla, Junior Dala, Quinton de Kock, Jean-Paul Duminy, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Willem Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Andile Phehlukwayo, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi
Recent Form:
Sri Lanka’s most recent ODI form came in January this year, a tri series involving Bangladesh and Zimbabwe which they hosted and despite losing their first two matches they recovered to win the series.
Meanwhile South Africa are tasked with bouncing back from a 5-1 hiding at home to India in February this year, a series where they were outplayed in all bar 1 match and the 5 defeats all came by wide margins.
Recent Head to Head
The most recent meeting came in the Champions Trophy in London in June 2017 and the Proteas won it by 96 runs.
The most recent series came earlier in 2017, South Africa were hosts and they completed a 5-0 series whitewash.
Betting – Match Result
Sri Lanka evens
South Africa 8/10
Note: Prices are an average of what was available at the time of writing but are subject to change
The Verdict:
The Proteas have won just 4 of 19 ODI’s against this opposition in Sri Lanka and they will need to be on their game if they are to improve on that record here. Sri Lanka’s form is nothing special in this format but they will take plenty from the performance of the test side and home ground advantage.
The match result looks a tricky call and I will side with a couple of top bat selections, Faf du Plessis for the Proteas and Kusal Perera for the hosts.
Bets: Top Home Batsman, Kusal Perera at 7/2
Top Away Batsman, Faf du Plessis at 4/1
Remember you can have your own say on all this week’s matches on our discussion forum
