THE EDGE: Our cricket tipster The Edge previews the new T20 franchise league with the SA20 and Tuesday’s opener between MI Cape Town v Paarl Royals with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
MI Cape Town v Paarl Royals
MATCH OVERVIEW:
The eyes of the cricketing world turn to South Africa on Tuesday as we start a new T20 franchise league with the SA20. Franchises are popping up all over the world in cricket at the moment, but this is by far the most important development, and it will be interesting to see how popular the markets are on BETDAQ Betting Exchange. South Africa have tried to launch a T20 franchise league for a while now, but everything collapsed with lack of funds. This time is different however, and could actually change world cricket.
The tournament is mainly backed by Indian Premier League owners. That has meant the tournament has pretty much unlimited funds given the IPL is the biggest tournament in world cricket at the moment, and that’s pulled all the star players. It creates a positivity loop because the star players attract more fans and higher TV numbers, which in turn attracts more money, and the loop continues. It’s also already changing world cricket. Cricket legend Mahela Jayawardene has reportedly left Southern Brave in the Hundred, who he won the tournament with, so take up a role with the Mumbai Indians franchises. Mumbai Indians owners now own MI Cape Town in this tournament, MI Emirates in the ILT20 and of course Mumbai Indians in the IPL. We could easily see the same arrangement happen with star players soon too.
For South Africa, things couldn’t have worked out better. The board is short on cash and unorganised. The IPL owners fix that, and the tournament will give young South Africans amazing experience too. This should be a fascinating game to start the tournament, a lot of England players should feature heavily too. Buttler will be the star man for Paarl Royals, and one wonders will ex-England captain Eoin Morgan be named in the XI. For MI Cape Town, Jofra Archer returns from injury for the first time since July 2022.
WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:
The best advice here is to go into the first few games with a completely open mind on scoring conditions. It’s been a long, long time since we had a decent T20 domestic competition in South Africa and we don’t have a sample of data at this level. We kind of know conditions at Newlands from International cricket, but the standard would be slightly higher. We haven’t had an International T20 here since 2020 however, South Africa set 191/3 and England chased it down in just 17.4 overs. In the game before that in the same series, South Africa posted 179/6 and again England chased that down. I think Cricket South Africa will ask for very good pitches because they know everyone (especially Indian cricket fans) love high scoring games.
RECOMMENDED BET:
It’s no surprise to see the market here take it’s time to pick a favourite. To be fair it’s hard to know what to expect here given it’s a new tournament with new squads. On paper, the MI Cape Town batting looks a little light however their bowling looks absolutely fantastic. Jofra Archer, Sam Curran, Kagiso Rabada and Rashid Khan is very impressive if they all play. Good batting conditions might help them though because they haven’t got any major international batting stars. Buttler is the obvious star for Paarl Royals, along with Jason Roy they could cause serious carnage, however Roy has struggled for months. Their bowling looks a little light though because they have focused on domestic bowlers, and that’s what makes this game interesting. This is definitely a game for small stakes, and I feel it might pay to go with the bowling here because I expect good conditions so I’m happy with a small bet at 1.8 on MI Cape Town.
The Edge Says:
One point win MI Cape Town to beat Paarl Royals at 1.8 with Betdaq Exchange
View the market here -> https://betdaq.biz/MicPaa
IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:
With this being a new tournament, we’re going into the dark here in-running strategy wise. For the first week, it’s probably a good idea to keep stakes very small and get an idea what to expect from each team and each ground. I really like the look of the MI Cape Town bowling, so I’m happy to support them but I would also wait for Buttler and Roy to get out at the top of the order. Eoin Morgan might be a good player to take on given he’s retired from International cricket so he could easily start the tournament slowly.
