Australia v South Africa Betting Tips

The South Africans won game one at Perth Stadium with six wickets in hand after bowling the Aussies out for a paltry 152. Dale Steyn and Lungi Ngidi tore through the Aussie top order to have the hosts at 3/8 inside the first six overs, and Australia eventually fell within 38 overs despite a top score of 33 from newcomer Alex Carey. Led by openers Quinton de Kock (47 from 40 balls) and Reeza Hendricks (44 from 74), the visitors reached the target with more than 20 overs to spare.

Aussies to turn things around?

The five-time World Cup-winning Aussies have lost 10 of 11 one-day internationals this year and 17 of their last 19 overall. Their only success in 2018 came in a 3-wicket victory over England in Adelaide on Australia Day. Since then, they have lost a home ODI to England, 5 away ODIs to England, and that loss to South Africa on Sunday, bringing their number of consecutive losses to 7 – their worst losing streak ever. Just six months out from the 2019 World Cup, Australia is now sitting in sixth position on the ICC ODI Championship, its lowest ranking ever.

Australia will again have to make do without its two best batsmen, Stephen Smith and David Warner, who are both in the middle of one-year bans as part of their role in the well-documented ball tampering scandal. With a test series and one-day internationals against India to follow, the Aussies will be desperate to turn the ship around in the remaining two one-dayers against South Africa.

If the hosts are to win Friday, openers Travis Head and Aaron Finch will need to get the team off to a better start than they did Sunday, and a big contribution will also be needed from a talented but inexperienced top order consisting of D’Arcy Short (played 4 one-day internationals), Chris Lynn (2 ODIs), and Carey (4 ODIs). More will be needed from a bowling attack that – with the exception of medium-pacer Marcus Stoinis (3/16 from 4.2 overs) – barely fired a shot in game one.

Similar line-ups expected in Adelaide

Captain Aaron Finch hinted that Mitchell Starc would open the bowling in Adelaide after he surprised everyone by handing the new ball to Nathan Coulter-Nile in game one. Responding to criticism for not opening with Starc in Perth, Finch said: “(We had) 16 out of 18 losses in a row, so we’re looking to try some new things and try something different. If you keep doing the same thing over and over, it’s the definition of insanity isn’t it?”

South Africa made several changes to the squad for this series, leaving skipper JP Duminy and opener Hashim Amla at home due to injury and making other adjustments  to the line-up. Given the ease with which its pace attack handled the Aussies on Sunday and the lack of a workout for its batsmen, it wouldn’t surprise if the Proteas go in with the same XI in Adelaide.

Adelaide is a happy hunting ground for the Aussies, who have won 35 of 50 one-day internationals there – their second-best record of all their home grounds, after Hobart. Surprisingly, the South Africans have only played Australia once in Adelaide – and they won it, on Australia Day 2009. They’ve played there 5 times overall, for a 4-1 win-loss record.

Australia v South Africa Betting Tips

Marcus Stoinis, Man-of-the-Match, (17 at Unibet)

South Africa to score most 4s (1.92 at Unibet)

No player to score a century (1.73 at Ladbrokes)