South Africa v England BettingChoice Analysis

South Africa and England meet in the first of five tests on Friday, at the start of what is sure to be a fascinating series. They are two of the strongest sides in world cricket, and both will be going into it feeling that anything other than a victory would be a major disappointment. The first test is being contested at St. George's Park in Port Elizabeth, and it is a venue at which the home side have fared well in recent years. Only one of their last ten matches there has ended in defeat, and that was to a very strong Australian outfit in 1997. Although six of these have ended in victory, on both of the occasions that England have visited the ground since apartheid was lifted, the games have ended as draws.It is a pitch which has tended to allow good, competitive test matches, with enough help for the bowlers, but runs for the taking also. The bookies can hardly split the two teams. England are priced just inside the hosts at 2/1, as opposed to 12/5. The draw is the fairly heavy favourite however at 7/5.The weather forecast is quite good, with very pleasant temperatures of around 22 degrees at present, and the longer term forecast suggests there will be some cloud cover but sun will dominate. With this in mind we are reluctant to back the draw. Both sides look strong with the bat, and there will also be some of the very best bowlers on display, principally Shaun Pollock and Steve Harmison. Perhaps the two men most worthy of mention however are Andrew Flintoff and Jacques Kallis, the two most valuable all rounders in the world game. They each possess the ability to turn a game with either bat or ball, and the one who performs strongest in this match, and the series as a whole is likely to be on the victorious team.England began the Tour in terrific spirits as ten of eleven tests have now been won including seven in a row. They also got through a potentially volatile one day series with Zimbabwe in one piece, and took the series 4-0. They then arrived in South Africa, and had only one three day game scheduled in as a warm up, against South Africa 'A', and it went badly. The likely test eleven was selected but was beaten, and fairly convincingly too.The batsmen were poor with sure test starters Trescothick, Thorpe and Flintoff accumulating just 45 runs between them, and Mark Butcher not doing himself any favours with scores of 3 and 0. Butcher was injured for the second half of the summer, and Robert Key took his place with great assurance. 221 at Lord's was the highlight, but the 25 year played well throughout, and also scored 87 in the one day warm up game at the start of this tour. The Kent man has done everything right and nothing wrong, and considering the lack of form shown by Butcher, it would be harsh of the selectors to omit him.On the positive side, Andrew Strauss plundered a useful 50 in the first innings, and skipper Michael Vaughan made 100 in the second. Vaughan is the only front line batsman to have played here in 1999 when he made 21 and 29. Graham Thorpe missed that tour, but did play in 1995, making 27 and 12. Vaughan's scores are not fantastic, but he still knows what to expect, and he was clearly in the best shape of the batsmen on show against South Africa 'A'.His form overall this year has not been at its highest, but his remains the prize wicket for opposition bowlers, because they all realise how significant a part the Yorkshire man can play. Despite his wavering touch through large parts of the summer, it is worth noting that in the first match of the last series England played, against the West Indies, the skipper scored 103 and 101, and he also opened the last series against these opponents in excellent touch, scoring 178 runs in the match.At 4/1 he is favourite to top the market, but we still feel that Vaughan is worth supporting to be the top English batsman in the match. As far as the result is concerned, we were confident of a strong English display, but the capitulation at the weekend is enough to put us off backing them. South Africa have had a disappointing 2004 as a whole, but there were definitely signs of improvement in India last month. They lost the series 1-0, but playing on the sub continent is a tough task for any side, and there was plenty of a positive note to be taken. They have also won the last four series competed on home soil, against West Indies, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. We shall leave the match betting alone on this occasion but will be watching closely with regard to the rest of the series.Get a free bet on the cricket with VCBet!