Cricket: South Africa vs Sri Lanka ODI Series

[kevshat]

After a more competitive than many expected test series South Africa and Sri Lanka will now do battle over a 5 match ODI series which like the tests are all live on Sky in the UK. We saw in the World Cup that there isn't much between these two sides so this should be a really good series with some top betting potential. The series begins on Wednesday afternoon and will provide both with good warm ups for the rest of their winter schedule. Schedule:

Wed Jan 11 12:30 GMT | 14:30 local 12:30 GMT	1st ODI - South Africa v Sri Lanka Boland Park, Paarl	17 - 27° C
Sat Jan 14 08:00 GMT | 10:00 local 08:00 GMT	2nd ODI - South Africa v Sri Lanka Buffalo Park, East London	17 - 23° C
Tue Jan 17 12:30 GMT | 14:30 local 12:30 GMT	3rd ODI - South Africa v Sri Lanka Chevrolet Park, Bloemfontein	N/A
Fri Jan 20 12:30 GMT | 14:30 local 12:30 GMT	4th ODI - South Africa v Sri Lanka De Beers Diamond Oval, Kimberley	N/A
Sun Jan 22 08:00 GMT | 10:00 local 08:00 GMT	5th ODI - South Africa v Sri Lanka New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg	N/A

[Tyler]

Re: Cricket: South Africa vs Sri Lanka ODI Series Not sure at how the series is going to play out. I think Sri Lanka will pose more of a threat than the bookies think but then again, if they didn't, I wouldnt be surprised. Definitely like AB for Series Top Bat at 4/1 but I'll see how he reacts to captaincy before I touch that. Two for tomorrow: - 4pts Total Sixes: Under 5.5 @ 5/6 [WillHill] Slow and low track expected tomorrow and two teams that are notorious for not hitting sixes. I expect Amla, Kallis and Smith to do the majority of the batting for SA and that should be unders. So too with Tharanga, Sanga and Mahela which will also bring unders. The danger here is the middle orders of both teams with Botha, Duminy, Mathews and Perera all being able to clear but with the nature of the track, I expect sixes to be a rarity. - 4pts Player Performance: J. Botha Over 31 @ 5/6 [bet365] I chose Botha over Duminy because I reckon Botha will do more of the bowling. Definitely can see 6 or 7 overs out of Botha tomorrow with the nature of the pitch and I expect at least one wicket. I like Botha's ability to bat as well which can see a quick 20-run cameo if need be. Can see 40 with the ball though so hopefully the bat won't be needed. Overs here. Unders up there.

[CzechPunter]

Re: Cricket: South Africa vs Sri Lanka ODI Series Found one I like in the first ODI. Keep in mind that I am not a huge expert when it comes to cricket. (2/10) Malinga to beat Steyn (Wickets Match Bet) @ 1.90 with Sportingbet (both must play, draw no bet) Well, this should be a very interesting ODI and the results seems to be wide open, but this looks like a good bet. The Sri Lankans have seen a lot of Steyn recently and they should know how to deal with him. Meanwhile, Malinga comes into this match fresh and should pose some serious problems to the batsmen. He is also more effective against the lower order.

[BIG X]

Re: Cricket: South Africa vs Sri Lanka ODI Series Two of my favourite bowlers in world cricket on show in this match and I fancy both to be amongst the wickets. In what is expected to be not too a high scoring game I think we should see plenty of wickets fall for both sides. If that happens then for me these two look the most likely guys to take them. 2pts - 4 wickets or more - Malinga @ 9.00 Bluesquare Sri Lanka welcome back their best bowler in this form of the game and someone who will fire in the yorkers at the beginning and death. In 4 ODI's v SA he has managed two previous 4 wicket hauls - with 4 wickets in consecutive balls in the world cup in 2007. To have any chance in this match Sri Lanka will need him to fire and with the odds on offer I will have little play that he brings in at least 4 today. 2pts - 4 wickets or more - Steyn @ 7.50 Bluesquare Surprisingly to me Dale Steyn has not been as destructive in the ODI game as in the test arena. In his two previous matches v Sri Lanka he has taken 3 wickets in the one innings @ 3/47. He has managed 4 wickets or more 5 times in 57 ODI matches. However I just fancy him to carry his good work from the Test game into this series and I will have a little nibble on him taking at least 4 today.

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: South Africa vs Sri Lanka ODI Series Good luck all. 3 for me in this opener. Really hope this is a good series. 4pts Sri Lanka +3.5 wickets or 30.5 runs 9/10 Sportingbet Sri Lanka have been a lot more competitive on this tour than I expected them to be and I think that can bode well for them now they are in a format that we know they enjoy playing in. With Lasith Malinga and Ajantha Mendis in their bowling attack I expect them to go even better in this one day series and I wouldn't be surprised if they win this series. South Africa will be captained by AB de Villiers for the first time and that brings an unknown element to this series as far as the Proteas are concerned. When a new captain comes in and starts afresh they tend to thrive but sometimes when former captains are still hanging around everyone gets confused so it will be interesting to see how they go under de Villiers. I just have my doubts initially and if Sri Lanka play like we know they can in ODI's then I believe this handicap is a touch on the high side so I will have the tourists with this start. 3pts Sri Lanka Highest 1st 15 Overs 6/5 Sportingbet Sri Lanka usually go very well at the top of the order and if Dilshan gets going then I believe the 1st 15 overs will be theirs. Upul Tharanga is no slouch along side him too and the pair have opened together a lot and know how each other play. South Africa will open with Hashim Amla and Graeme Smith and both can take a few overs to get going and neither are ultra quick when they are in. Factor in that Malinga won't go for too many and Sri Lanka will bring out the spinners in those five overs after the initial powerplay and they can strange especially if the wicket is a bit slow. We saw in the test series that Dilshan can accelerate any scoring rate and if he fires early I believe the Sri Lanka's can be over the hill and gone after 15 overs. 1pt ew A.Morkel Top South Africa Batsman 12/1 Bodog (1/5 1,2,3) It's nice to see Bodog come to the each way top bat party and I will take advantage of that accordingly. I always have a concern over South Africa's batting line up in particular it's depth and with du Plessis yet to really nail his place down at number 6 and with the likes of de Villiers under pressure as captain for the first time I wouldn't be surprised if this South Africa batting line up struggles a wee bit in this opening ODI. That could mean they need a powerpacked innings from Albie Morkel to propel their total up to something respectable. There are few better finishers in ODI cricket than Albie Morkel and if Gary Kirsten has his plans right I'm sure he'll be looking to get Morkel in for the final powerplay. If that happens he should score quickly and given that he'll score the quickest while he's at the crease I think there's value in Morkel to top score on a small ground where one or two above him in the order have questions to answer.

[CzechPunter]

Re: Cricket: South Africa vs Sri Lanka ODI Series Nice call BIG X! My bet came in comfortably too after Malinga took 5 wickets and Steyn just one. Strange ODI though.

[PerryPFC]

Re: Cricket: South Africa vs Sri Lanka ODI Series

Nice call BIG X! My bet came in comfortably too after Malinga took 5 wickets and Steyn just one. Strange ODI though.

Great shout BigX! Followed with Steyn and Philander in the test but missed this one :wall Good call Czech also, Malinga 5 times better today! Sri Lanka were woeful today... Didn't even give Kev a run for his money! Although when Morkel got swinging with 5 overs to go the chance of him placing looked good... Cest la vie I suppose!

[BIG X]

Re: Cricket: South Africa vs Sri Lanka ODI Series Cheers guys, good shout on Steyn CzechPunter and Tyler with the unders on 6's. Unlucky Kev, Who would have thought Sri Lanka could have been that bad. It will be interesting to see how they are priced up for the next match ???

[Tyler]

Re: Cricket: South Africa vs Sri Lanka ODI Series Nice shout X. Nice odds on that.

WIN - 4pts Total Sixes: Under 5.5 @ 5/6 [WillHill] VOID - 4pts Player Performance: J. Botha Over 31 @ 5/6 [bet365]

+3.32 for me after Sri Lanka duly obliged with not hitting a single six. Onto tomorrow though and there were a few bets I fancied before checking the weather and seeing a 70% chance of precipitation throughout the day. The last thing I want to do is get caught on the wrong side of a D/L ruling either way so I'll swerve this one.

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: South Africa vs Sri Lanka ODI Series Great shouts on the 1st ODI guys. I don't think I've ever got a cricket match as wrong as that in my life :$. Complete apologies to anyone who followed me in the first match. -9 for the series. Was hoping to claw some of the deficit back in the 2nd ODI but I'm with Tyler in that I'm leaving it well alone with the amount of rain and the percentage of it coming during this match. Hopefully the weather will be better for the 3rd ODI. Good luck to anyone who gets involved in the 2nd ODI.

[Tyler]

Re: Cricket: South Africa vs Sri Lanka ODI Series One for me ahead of the 3rd ODI: - 6pts Team to hit Most 6's: South Africa @ 10/11 [bluesq] The talk around the town is that Kallis and Amla will make way for Colin Ingram and Robin Peterson today which does this bet some nice favours. Ingram sccored 124 off 126 balls here in 2010 and he should slot into that #3 position comfortably. Back that up with AB, Duminy, Du Plessis and Albie Morkel in the middle order and we have some potential fireworks on the cards. Sri Lanka don't hit too many as we've said for years and there is little barring a Malinga massacre that will stop South Africa. Home team all day here.

[MemoryOf82]

Re: Cricket: South Africa vs Sri Lanka ODI Series You got to love the rain, I had Ab de Villiers to be top South African batsman, and had the rain behaved itself I would have won most likely, oh well :wall...

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: South Africa vs Sri Lanka ODI Series I'm not a huge dead rubber punter but there are a couple of performance lines which look low today based on what we've seen in the series so far. 4pts J-P.Duminy's Performance Pts - 39&Over 5/6 Bet365 Points are scored as follows: 1pt per run, 10pts per catch & 20pts per wicket. JP Duminy has covered this line in both matches which have been properly played out matches so far. The only one he didn't cover in was the one sided first ODI. He's in good form with the bat and AB de Villiers is using his off spin quite a bit too so he can almost be considered an all rounder in this match. He's more than capable of covering this total with the bat but with the catch and wicket point potential this line definitely looks a smidgeon low to me. 3pts N.Kulasekera's Performance Pts - 34&Over 5/6 Bet365 Points are scored as follows: 1pt per run, 10pts per catch & 20pts per wicket. Nuwan Kulasekera has been seeing a lot more action in this series. As well as opening the bowling he's now coming in at number 6 and utilising his big hitting particularly in that final powerplay. That makes this line look a bit low because he can cover this with the bat and the ball on their own but with a combination of the two he should cover it easily.

[Tyler]

Re: Cricket: South Africa vs Sri Lanka ODI Series Bluesq settled the sixes bet as a loser despite the rain which means a -2.68 return for the series. Never saw Sri Lanka chasing down two 300+ scores though so I am rather happy that I didn't get on SA to win the series on a handicap. Rather annoyed I didn't get on AB to Top Bat though. Easily brought home the goods which would've been a nice 4/1 earner. Minor.