MATCH: Somerset v South Australia
DATE: Saturday, October 1, 2011
TIME: 1600 hours IST (1030 hours GMT)
VENUE: M Chinnaswamy in Bangalore
The first game of this Saturday will see Somerset play South Australia Redbacks in Bangalore.
Past Record:
Somerset qualified for the main draw of the tournament with two wins over Auckland and Kolkata. In the main tournament, they have already beaten the Kolkata Knight Riders and will now look to make it two wins in two games.
South Australia started off with a loss to the Warriors, but came back strongly to defeat the Kolkata Knight Riders.
Side-effect:
If the Somerset (10/11 at
SkyBet) side manage to defeat South Australia in the game, they will go to the top of the table alongside the Warriors with two wins from two games. The Redbacks (11/10 at
Totesport) will be left struggling with one win from three games and with their 50-run defeat in the first game, even a win in the last match may not be enough for them to go through to the semi-finals.
Team News:
Somerset have had a good, long break between their games. This would have killed some of their momentum but for a side who have been playing games at a rapid rate, right from the time the English FP T20 tournament ended, it would have been a welcome rest.
Given the easy pitch at Bangalore, the side may have to rethink the three-spinner strategy that had worked so beautifully for them at Hyderabad. Interestingly, all of their three spinners have a class about them – Roelof van der Merwe is an all-rounder, Murali Kartik has the experience of bowling in Indian conditions while George Dockrell can hold things up. It will be interesting to see how things go if all three are played.
Van der Merwe (9/2 at
BetFred) had been the star of the show with the bat in the previous game and should continue to play his attacking but risky game. How the others like Peter Trego and James Hildreth go, could decide on the fate of the game.
South Australia’s first game defeat prompted them to immediately self-assess and change the way they had batted. There was far more aggression from the top-order, with both Michael Klinger and Daniel Harris attempting to take on the bowlers early, culminating into an excellent innings from Callum Ferguson (4/1 at
Coral).
Given the way Daniel Christian batted, the Somerset bowlers will be wary of the side’s batting depth.
Who is hot?
The one factor surrounding the South Australian side is that none of its bowlers, bar Shaun Tait, have any star status associated with them. And Tait was dropped from the previous match. In both the games, the bowling hasn’t done as well as they would have liked and they would like a bowler or two to emerge as their match-winners. Somerset will want from their captain Alfonso Thomas, who hasn’t got the accuracy expected out of him with the ball.
Prediction:
Somerset’s performances have given out a feeling of self-confidence and they will be my favourites for the evening.
