MATCH: South Africa v Australia 1st T20I
DATE: Wednesday, October 12, 2011
TIME: 1800 hours local (1600 hours GMT)
VENUE: Newlands, Cape Town
Australia will open their tour of South Africa with a T20I at Cape Town. This is the first of the two T20Is that the two sides will play against each other.
Past Record:
South Africa have had a long break from international cricket, which would have done them no harm. In fact, this will be their first international since the end of the World Cup.
Australia have been all over the sub-continent – beating Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in Tests and ODIs. However, it was the T20Is against Sri Lanka that proved to be their Achilles Heel as they lost both the games.
South Africa have played two T20Is at Cape Town – both during the 2007 edition of the World T20 – and won both. Australia have also played here twice, losing one to Zimbabwe and beating England in the other game.
The two teams have played six T20Is against each other and have won three apiece.
Team News:
South Africa (10/11 at
BetFred) named a strong side for the two games but even before the start of the two matches, they have lost two of their main guys – AB de Villiers, the captain, and Albie Morkel, their all-rounder. Hashim Amla (7/2 at
SportingBet) takes over the reins while Ryan McLaren comes in to do the all-rounder’s duties.
Heino Kuhn takes over the wicket-keeping gloves, but the tussle for the spinners’ spot would be between Johan Botha and Robin Peterson. Playing two spinners may be an option if the pitch assists it but with JP Duminy providing an extra slow-bowling alternative, Amla may want to go in with only one spinner.
In the absence of Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel will lead the pace bowling battery, and given their performance in the Champions League T20, Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Rusty Theron should edge out Wayne Parnell from the 11.
Australia (1/1 at
Blue Square) will miss Brett Lee for the series after he was ruled out because of appendicitis. John Hastings also misses out on the rest of season because of a shoulder injury, but the rest of the side should be on the similar lines to the one that played in Sri Lanka.
The out of form Cameron White will look to get back into his best, having not had a decent hit for months now. Barring a 39 that he scored in a losing cause in Sri Lanka, he has made a total of 28 runs in his last five T20I innings. A half-century is also missing in his previous 16 ODIs.
The Australian batting at the top of the order is strong, with Shane Watson and Dave Warner (7/2 at
BetFred) to open the innings. How they go about their business in the middle of the innings and how their slightly inexperienced bowling responds to the challenge will be interesting. Warner, incidentally, is coming off back to back centuries in the Champions League T20 recently.
Players to look out for
With Lee out injured chances are that Patrick Cummins will make his international debut. He is an exciting young quick bowler with the ability to crank it up to more than 145 km/hr and will enjoy the South African conditions. South Africa have an exciting blend of experience and youth but how Graeme Smith (7/2 at
BetFred) comes back from his injury and resignation from captaincy will be interesting.
Prediction:
South Africa to beat Australia.
