South Africa T20 World Cup Preview & Betting Tips

South Africa World T20 Best Odds

The best odds on South Africa to win the T20 World Cup can be secured with Betway. They’re offering the best price of 13.0 on the Proteas. If you want to find out a little bit more about this highly recommended betting site, check out our Betway review when you have a minute.

The odds are…pretty much right. The bookmakers know perfectly well that they haven’t performed well in the competition in the past, that results in T20Is have been mixed for them over the past year and that they’re almost certainly likely to be without their best player, AB de Villiers. More on him later.

So there’s no harm in taking quite a big price that the Proteas can defy the odds if you’re in that way inclined. But there are certainly considerably better teams than them on paper.

South Africa Performance 2016

The South Africa performance at the last World Cup was in many ways typical of how they’ve fared in this tournament over the years: disappointing. It was admittedly a tough group that they were in. It was topped by eventual winners the West Indies and where the eventual runners-up- England – finished as runners-up in the group, as well.

South Africa did what was expected of them by beating underdogs Afghanistan and Sri Lanka but failed to beat either of the group’s Big Two.

They lost by two wickets as England chased a huge 230 with two balls to spare and suffered a similar fate in very different circumstances against the Windies in an all-or-nothing match. SA posted just 122/8 and did a very decent job of defending that but ultimately, a Marlon Samuels 43 just about got the Windies over the line.

AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla each played one big knock in the tournament but ultimately, they not only failed to perform as a team, but no one really came to the party on an individual basis, either. Since that last World Cup, they’ve lost a load of high-class senior players. There’s no more Hashim Amla, Jean-Paul Duminy, Dale Steyn or Imran Tahir.

The case of AB de Villiers is a slightly more complicated one. It’s almost four years since he last played a T20I for South Africa and no one knows whether he’s fully retired from international duty, or not. They’d be a far better side with him in it of course but right now, it’s anyone’s guess as to whether he might feature.

South Africa facts

Let’s go through some cool stats and facts about South Africa so you can impress your friends!

• Despite their poor showing at World Cups in terms of finishing positions, South Africa have an excellent win rate of 60%.
• Only Sri Lanka and India have higher win rates than that at World Cups.
• JP Duminy holds the record for the most T20I appearances for South Africa with 81.
• Only four SA players have hit centuries in T20Is. Two of them, David Miller and Faf du Plessis, are likely to play at the 2021 World Cup.
• SA will be without all of their 4 top wicket-takers at this World Cup.
• Dale Steyn (64), Imran Tahir (61), Mortne Morkel (46) and Wayne Parnell (41) will be absent, either through retirement or no longer being picked.

Captain: Temba Bavuma

Bavuma was an interesting selection as the new skipper of SA when picked to take over from Quinton de Kock in early 2020.

On the one hand, he enjoyed great success as captain of the Highveld Lions in South Africa’s domestic competition. On the other hand, he’d never really been seen as a future captain until the decision was finally announced.

So far it’s been tough to judge how tactically savvy he is as a skipper. What we do know is that Bavuma is a high-class top-order batsman and perhaps the greatest fielder in the world, alongside Ravi Jadeja and team-mate Faf du Plessis.