South Africa vs Bangladesh Betting Tips | ODI Series

South Africa’s Recent Form

After their shock loss in the First ODI, there was a lot to be pleased about in the Second.

There was Kagiso Rabada taking five wickets in a man-of-the-match display that saw him bowl unchanged for seven overs at the start of the innings, something you very rarely see outside Test cricket.

There was Lungi Ngidi bowling his 10 overs for just 34 runs and taking one wicket in the process.

And then there was Quinton de Kock feeling like SA’s best gameplan to chase those runs was to be aggressive from the start, which is exactly what he did, his 62 off 41 looking more like a T20 innings.

When he got out, Kyle Verreynne (58) and Tamba Bavuma (37) completed the job with minimum fuss but by then, de Kock had done all the hard work.

But among all those positives, the two spinners weren’t so good. Tabraiz Shamsi was economical enough but claimed just one of the nine wickets to have fallen.

Which was still better than Keshav Maharaj, who conceded 57 without taking a wicket.

Bangladesh’s Recent Form

It would have been practically impossible to have kept up the same standards from the first game given it was one of the best Bangladesh performances in an ODI in recent times.

But still. They will have been disappointed with a batting effort where no-one in the Top 5 scored more than 15.

In the end it was left to numbers 6 and 7 to get to something respectable, albeit a total at least 40 runs or so short of the par score.

The out-of-form Mahmudullah scratched his way to 25, while Afif Hossain hit a superb 72.

With the ball, Shakib and Mehidy Hasan Miraz were both really good but the others not so much and by then, the damage had been done.

Venue & conditions

We’re back at Centurion after the Second ODI was played at Johannesburg.

A reminder that this is where Bangladesh posted 314 batting first, which ended up being more than enough. For a good stat: in the last 12 times the team batting first has scored over 300 runs at Centurion, they went on to win 10 of them.

And that’s precisely what Bangladesh will try to do.

Bat first, play it safe at the start and then look to accelerate in the middle-overs and get to that magical mark of 300.

Skipper Tamim Iqbal said as much:

“If we can handle the first ten overs well, [and] if we don’t give them too many wickets, we can definitely score runs against them in the middle overs.”

It will be interesting to see what SA will choose to do if they win the toss but in a decider, they too may want to bat first.

The weather is fine with no rain forecast.

South Africa vs Bangladesh Winner Prediction

Recommended Bet: Back Bangladesh to win @ 4.7 with Pure Win

Ahead of the First ODI, Bangladesh were 4.9. I backed them and they won.

Ahead of the Second ODI, they had been cut to 4.1. I backed them and they lost.

So irrespective of what happens here, we’re going to end the Series with a very decent profit.

But what’s the move this time? It’s Bangladesh, who are 4.7.

Everything went right for SA at the weekend with the Tigers’ top order getting out to some poor shots and Rabada bowling out of his skin. They almost needn’t have bothered going through the motions of SA chasing a sub-200 total. (I’m joking, of course.)

But everyone is allowed a bad day at the office and the tourists can fight back here.

It’s obvious that they’d love to bat first, get to 300 and then let scoreboard pressure get the better of SA, much like it did in the first match.

So it will be hard work if SA bat first and get to 300. Bangladesh’s race may just be run if that happens. The stats say so.

But at the odds in question, it’s certainly worth going with them and hope they can win the toss, bat first and put on a good total in the first innings runs market. 

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