Start time: 1030, 10/06/2019
Venue: Hampshire Bowl
TV: Sky Sports
South Africa began the Cricket World Cup at shorter odds than the West Indies but it is hard to see why they are still slight favourites for this match.
The Proteas have slipped to three straight defeats and look all at sea, whereas their opponents have one win from two and seem in much better shape.
Siding with the Caribbean outfit at Evens has to be the call for our initial South Africa vs West Indies prediction.
South Africa’s chances
South Africa have struggled in all aspects of the game in losing to England, Bangladesh and India and now have a mountain to climb to make the semi-finals.
Paceman Chris Morris insisted the under-fire Proteas still have the wherewithal to conjure the six consecutive victories they will need to stand any chance of reaching the last four.
He said: “It’s quite draining to go three down, but I think we’ll be okay, there’s a lot of strong-willed guys in that team.
“The fans at home, all we can say to them is ‘stay with us, back us as much as you can and we’ll try and perform for you’.
“Stranger things have happened in the past in World Cups in any sport.”
To be fair, we can envisage an improved effort from the batsmen, particularly Faf du Plessis, who is coming off knocks of 62 and 38, so appeals at 3/1 to be his side’s top scorer from the South Africa vs West Indies.
However, Dale Steyn’s injury KO and some moderate displays by Kagiso Rabada have left the bowling attack looking very lightweight.
West Indies’ chances
The West Indies followed up an emphatic triumph over Pakistan by pushing Australia close at Trent Bridge.
Some hostile pace bowling threatened to skittle out the holders, until Steve Smith’s 73 and a freakish 92 from number eight Nathan Coulter-Nile helped push their total up to 288.
Despite useful contributions by Shai Hope, Nicholas Pooran and Jason Holder, the Windies fell 15 runs short of that mark, but still played their part in a cracking contest.
Carlos Brathwaite was upset by some of the officiating, with Chris Gayle unfortunate to go for 21 after a no-ball was missed on the previous delivery.
Gayle and captain Holder were also both given out twice on the field but, on each occasion, technology vindicated the batsmen’s decision to send the call to the third umpire.
Braithwaite commented: “I don’t know if I’ll be fined for saying it, but I just think that the umpiring was a bit frustrating.
“Even when we were bowling, we thought a few balls close to head height were called wides.”
The vibes are that the Windies are fired up for this tournament and that makes them dangerous opponents for any team.
Gayle hit a half-century versus Pakistan and was in sparkling form against England in February, posting scores of 162, 135, 50 and 77.
He has to be the go-to guy when it comes to bagging most runs for his side, so 3/1 for that option is added to our South Africa vs West Indies betting tips.
