STAR PREVIEW: Pakistan v South Africa

As we’ve moved past the halfway stage of this World Cup, we’re now into a stage of the tournament which is essentially knockout cricket, with some teams too far away from the top 4 to think about making the semi-finals and others just one game away from essentially being knocked out.

South Africa and Pakistan are essentially as good as gone from the tournament, which might make for a strange game here as the two fight at Lord’s, although there should still be plenty of motivation for a decent result.

The Pakistanis come here from the back of the one defeat they can’t stand – a comprehensive 89 run beating at the hands of India at Old Trafford – and, as it goes without saying, they have been heavily criticized for the margin of defeat and performance there.

That was a third defeat in four games and their most painful one, especially as they’d put India in to bat on a cloudy and volatile day, but none of their bowlers apart from Mohammad Amir managed to strike a blow and perhaps Amir might be the man for Safraz Ahmed to turn to again.

His tally of 12 wickets is fourth in the overall standings and his bowling figures for each game read 3/26 (West Indies), 2/67 (England), 5/30 (Australia) and 3/47 (India). He’s averaging 13.97 and has an economy rate of less than five an over in the World Cup. The next best bowler – Wahab Riaz, averaging 47.40 for his five wickets. By any measurement, the price of 11/4 on him being the top wicket taker for Pakistan again is a fair one.

Batting has been much more of an issue for Pakistan, with their highest runscorer – Babar Azam – having 163 runs through the whole tournament. For a comparison, David Warner has 447, and 14 players have 200 runs or more. They posted 348 against England but their next best total was 266 against Australia and there’s a slight worry about them.

South Africa haven’t made a big upset, but they came so very close when losing by four wickets with just three balls remaining against New Zealand. A missed review for a Kane Williamson nick behind and some poor fielding ended up costing them big time.

The mental bounce back from that loss will be tough to combat and whilst they’ve bowled reasonably well, their middle order has regularly collapsed against high quality batting, something they share with Pakistan. This reflects why the betting market has the two so tight in the odds, but neither makes huge appeal with both having the individual players capable of swinging it.

If South Africa manage to get a foothold in the game is seems likely that their bowlers will have played a part and recently their biggest threat has come from Chris Morris. The all-rounder has taken 6 wickets in his last two matches and at 4/1 to be top bowler, he seems a big price to be South Africa’s Top Wicket Taker.

RECOMMENDED BETS (scale of 1-100 points)
BACK Mohammad Amir Top Pakistan Wicket Taker 1 pt at 11/4 with starsports.bet
BACK Chris Morris Top South Africa Wicket Taker 1 pt at 4/1 with starsports.bet

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