The latest winter tour for England’s cricketers sees them in South Africa for two limited-over series, with three T20 and three one-day internationals against the Proteas fast approaching.
It’s the Twenty20 matches first, with the opener taking place at Newlands on November 27, and England are the 5/8 favourites to get off to a winning start against an inexperience South Africa side available at 23/20.
The teams then head to Paarl for match two on November 29, before the players go back to Cape Town for the third clash on December 1.
England go into the T20 series having beaten Australia 2-1 back in September and are sat second in the world rankings, as they prepare for the World T20 tournament next year.
Eoin Morgan’s men have won five of their last eight T20 fixtures and have lost just one of the last nine T20 series. Add to that the return of arguably the best all-rounder in world cricket, Ben Stokes, and England deserve to be strong 20/33 favourites for the series.
With Morgan and Dawid Malan both in the top-10 of the T20 batting standings, it could be worth considering a century in the first match, which can be backed at 6/1.
England’s preparations have seen them play inter-squad warm-up matches and all-rounder Sam Curran caught the eye in Monday’s clash. The 22-year-old smashed an unbeaten 45 with the bat and with the ball, the left armer took 1-28 in his four overs.
Rebuild Job for South Africa
In contrast, South Africa look to be at a cross-roads and heading into a new era, with former skipper Graeme Smith the new Director of Cricket and entrusted with trying to rebuild the squad.
The Proteas are currently fifth in both the T20 and ODI standings and will need to show a big improvement, even on home soil, if they are going to test England, while they are 11/10 to claim a shock series win.
There have been better signs in the 50-over version, with seven wins in their last nine ODI series – which includes a 3-0 whitewash of Australia back in March.
In Heinrich Klaasen, South Africa may have found a middle-order star. The wicket-keeper batsman – who is 16/1 to be Man of the Match in the T20 opener – smashed 242 runs across the three matches with Australia – including an impressive century in the first ODI victory.
Bairstow Can Deliver Timely Reminder
England though have won four of the last six one-day meetings between the sides, with the world champions winning eight of their last 12 ODI matches.
It’s also worth noting that several players will be out to prove a point, especially those who have lost their central Test contracts with the ECB.
Jonny Bairstow, who is one of only a handful of players in both the ODI and T20 squads, is one of looking to impress the selectors and is 11/4 to be England’s top batsman in the first T20 clash.
Meanwhile, paceman Mark Wood has also said recently that he still has aspirations of playing for this country again in the five-day format and is also in both squad.
The ODI fixtures start on Friday December 4, with the opening encounter in Cape Town. The teams then had to Boland Park for the second ODI on December 6, with the third and final match of the series back at Newlands on December 9.