South Africa vs England 1 day International preview

Just five days after the end of a gruelling test series, the England and South Africa cricket teams are required to dust themselves off for a One-Day schedule which incorporates seven games, in seven cities, in fifteen days.Both squads have changed their personnel slightly, although the hardcore of the teams remain the same. The first match is scheduled for Johannesburg and takes place on Sunday.England have already played a warm up game against South Africa 'A' on Thursday. With six first team regulars absent the tourists played fine cricket to take victory by six wickets. Most of the players drafted in who were not part of the test set up showed no sign of rustiness and there will be some interesting selection dilemmas.Most obviously, James Anderson is yet to find his form, and his wicket less haul for 65 runs does not compare favourably with the 4-40 snared by Kabir Ali. But it was with the bat that England looked most at ease, and huge efforts from Kevin Pietersen (97 from 84 balls) and Ian Bell (87 not out) steered the side to victory. Bell is certainly knocking on the first team door, and the most likely man to give way is Vikram Solanki, whilst Pietersen will play in the place of Andrew Flintoff who has returned home for surgery.Such competition can only be good for England. Strauss, Trescothick, Jones, Harmison and Vaughan will all return and this has the makings of a very strong outfit. They have won nine of their last eleven, including all four on the tour of Zimbabwe immediately prior to them entering South Africa.The hosts are a team which has in the past been associated with success in the shortened version of the game, but of late this has not been the case. They have actually only won one of their last twelve matches, with the only victory coming against Bangladesh. When considering that they enter this series on the back of a humbling test series loss it makes the fact that they are odds on (3/4) to win very interesting from a betting perspective.England are on the crest of a wave, having reached the final of the ICC Champions Trophy in September and whitewashed Zimbabwe, not to mention becoming only the second test side to win a series in South Africa just this week. They have a squad packed with players trying to prove themselves and determined for success. 11/10 is available about an England victory and we feel this must be taken.Get a free fifty pound bet on the cricket with VCBet