Sports Pundit
Cricket

Betting Preview of SA v WI - 3rd ODI at Dominica

West Indies take on South Africa in the third ODI of the series and they will hope that the new venue will bring them some change in fortune.

West Indies take on South Africa in the third ODI of the series and they will hope that the new venue will bring them some change in fortune. The hosts have lost four games in a row, including a couple of T20Is and now, as the action moves to Dominica, they will realise that they need to perform much better than they have so far in absolute terms. The form just seem to not end>

West Indies have made a couple of changes to their squad, and one gets the sense that the hosts will play at least Darren Bravo in the playing eleven. Bravo is a handy little bat and is a man for the future, and a good, solid couple of knocks for them would make things interesting.When will he fire?>

But time and again, we have spoken about the need for the top four to string together partnerships in, and once a batsman gets a start, get a move on and get a big one. Unfortunately, they have not been able to do so, and there is where the team has struggled. Darren Sammy and Kieron Pollard have rescued the side on some occasions, but they cannot be expected to keep repeating that performance on a regular basis. Time to wake up Gayle!

South Africa, on the other hand, have quite the opposite issues. Their top order, or at least the two out of their top three batsmen are in such a ravishing form, that the West Indian bowlers will struggle. In Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis, the side is in the form of their lives, and one can almost come to expect a half century at least. Each time, they have come to bat in recent times, they have almost crushed the opposition away with their strong batting.

It is the bowling which could be the weak link for them, given that Dale Steyn has, almost single-handedly been performing well, and if the opposition were to get a reasonable start, it would be interesting to see how they handle the pressure.

To me, there cannot be any doubt that South Africa (4/9 at Paddy Power) will start as favourites, but the West Indies (2/1 at Totesport) may just be able to spring a surprise or two here if they start well.