AUSTRALIA v SRI LANKA: Our cricket tipster The Edge previews the 1st T20 between Australia v Sri Lanka with a recommended BETDAQ bet.

MATCH OVERVIEW:

Australia begin life without Justin Langer on Friday as they start their T20 series against Sri Lanka. Both sides will be building up towards the next T20 World Cup in Australia towards the end of the year in this five match series, and although Australia will be heavy favourites we should see some twists and turns in running on BETDAQ Betting Exchange. Sri Lanka have been poor recently, but hopefully every game isn’t one way traffic and we get some competitive cricket.

There’s been a lot to take in from Cricket Australia over the last week or so. Since Langer resigned after only being offered a small contract extension until the end of the T20 World Cup, it appears the players weren’t happy with him. I have to say it’s all a very strange situation. In hindsight, if the players weren’t happy Cricket Australia shouldn’t have offered a contract extension. The six month offer just seems strange to me. Langer apologised for being “too intense” in a resignation letter, but you can’t knock him – he is from that wonderful Australian team that won everything – he is very much a win at all costs kind of guy and I suppose the modern player doesn’t really like that anymore. It’s also a little ironic that he was supposed to be rested for this series, but he’s taken all the headlines!

It will be interesting to see how Australia perform without him going forward, you can’t say he wasn’t successful. He has just won an Ashes series 4-0 after all and they won the 2021 T20 World Cup. Considering he took over after the ball tampering scandal, he did a wonderful job. Sri Lanka might not fully test Australia here, but they will be a good guide to see where Australia are at the moment.

WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:

We have the first two T20’s in Sydney at the SCG. We probably didn’t get the usual volume of T20 cricket here this season because they hosted an Ashes Test and then with Covid19 running rampant in Australia they moved the Big Bash to a Melbourne hub. We still had some good cricket here, and we saw 167/4 chased down in the Playoffs here. In general it was good for batting here this season and we saw two scores of over 200 and another very close to 200. Batting first appeared to offer an edge, and I don’t think it’s a question that you bat first if you win the toss.

RECOMMENDED BET:

It’s not a surprise to see Australia trading short here, and the 1.21 is still worth backing in my opinion. This is a poor Sri Lanka side who have been a side in decline for a while now. I’m keen to keep stakes low for the 1st T20 as we will learn what to expect over this five match series. As I said, Sri Lanka might not challenge them fully but it will be interesting to see how the players react and what kind of batting line-ups we saw. As it stands, Australia should win impressively and it’s very hard to see anything bar an Australian win.

The Edge Says:
One point win Australia to beat Sri Lanka at 1.21 with BETDAQ Exchange.

View the market here -> CLICK HERE

IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:

There’s a big gulf in class between the sides in my opinion, so the in-running strategy should revolve around that. I would expect the side batting first to have an edge looking at the scores from the Big Bash here this summer, but you have to factor in that Australia will likely score a lot more runs than Sri Lanka. I would be very confident if Australia batted first and I would expect a big score – however if Sri Lanka batted first I wouldn’t be confident enough to open a trade on them. In general, Sri Lankan players have struggled with the pace and bounce in Australian conditions and I wouldn’t expect anything different here. In an ideal world, Sri Lanka could post a good score and we can get some value on Australia landing a successful chase.