South Africa v England ODI Series....Lions Become Tamers

By Bigjoe

Starts Friday 20th November 12.00 GMT

In circus acts around the world, it's usually the lions that get tamed. In this ODI series I believe the three lions of England will become the tamers instead.

Fri Nov 20	1st ODI - New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
Sun Nov 22	2nd ODI - SuperSport Park, Centurion
Fri Nov 27	3rd ODI - Newlands, Cape Town
Sun Nov 29	4th ODI - St George's Park, Port Elizabeth
Fri Dec 4	5th ODI - Kingsmead, Durban

South Africa maybe ranked no2 in the ODI rankings, with England ranked 6th, but the fact is that its England that have dominated their recent meetings in this format having won all their last five games.

England beat the Saffers  4-0 at home and also won their most recent match in the ICC champions trophy in the Saffers own backyard.

To paraphrase a famous saying, “losing one game could be unfortunate, two could be an accident, but five in a row is definitely a pattern”.

So why have England fared better against South Africa then against other teams?

I believe the main reason is that their batsmen like the ball coming onto the bat and the Saffers largely one dimensional pace bowling suits England. It’s true that South Africa have recently added the spin options of Botha and Van Der Merve to their attack, but these are not of the class of other spinners that England have faced. Also there seems to be no in

Made for powerplay cricket Eoin Morgan

betweens in the South African attack. It’s pace or spin, with no middle ground of someone that can take the pace off the ball in the crucial middle overs.

The other big factor is that England finally seem to have worked out a plan to use the powerplay overs. Strauss has become positive at the top of the order and in Eoin Morgan they have found a player that was made for powerplay cricket. Add in the return from injury of Kevin Pietersen and England now have a formidable batting lineup.

I believe England have turned the corner in this format of the game and I fully expect them to rise relentlessly in the rankings over the next few months. They have always had the players but lacked the tactics and correct approaches to master this format of the game in the past. I feel they have learnt and learnt fast and we will see a different England.

South Africa will be confident after a very emphatic win in the 2nd Twenty20 game. But though England’s bowlers did not cover themselves in glory in that game, it would be a mistake to put too much emphasis on a format that will have no bearing in these 50 over clashes.

The markets though do seem to have put a lot of emphasis on that game and make South Africa as low as 1.41 to win this series.

I say the markets have got this woefully wrong, I say this 1.41 represents no value at all and the real value lies in laying South Africa at this 1.41 not only till the cows have come home, but till those cows have come home, been milked and gone to bed!

I recommend laying South Africa rather than backing England as there is always the possibility of washed out games at this time of year in South Africa and a drawn series could come into the equation.

If all the games do go ahead, I am confident that it’s England that will prevail and prevail comfortably. My suggested bets for this series therefore are:

In The Series Outright Market:

LAY South Africa for 5 points Liability @ 1.41 at Betfair

In The Series Correct Score Market:

BACK England to win 4-1 for 1 point @ 15.0 at Bet365

BACK England to win 5-0 for 1 point @ 51.0 at Ladbrokes sportsbook , Stan James and Bet365

Join me as I believe the lions will indeed become the tamers.

Bigjoe