THE EDGE: Our cricket tipster The Edge previews Friday’s 2nd ODI between ENGLAND v SOUTH AFRICA with a recommended BETDAQ bet.

MATCH OVERVIEW:

International cricket returns to Old Trafford in Manchester quickly, and England will be hoping for better fortune! They lost the ODI series against India here last Sunday, and they were out of luck too in Ben Stokes “farewell” game on Tuesday in Chester-le-Street. Perhaps the hot weather played a role in that result, England had a long time in the field in baking hot conditions and they had a big chase too – it’s always interesting to see what the players lose weight wise and I’m sure some of them could have even lost close to a stone in that heat. It was a sub-par batting performance, but then again we backed South Africa on Betdaq Betting Exchange because England haven’t been great with the bat lately.

Although Ben Stokes retiring from ODI cricket took all the headlines on Tuesday, I think we’ll see him play ODI cricket again. The lure of a World Cup will be too much – he is too young and too talented not to. I suppose it just highlights the immense schedule this England side have, it said he couldn’t play all three formats and I think he is right, but I do believe the ECB could have managed his workload better so he didn’t have to retire. I would be surprised if we didn’t see him at a World Cup though to be honest in the future. Despite that taking the headlines, England had issues with the bat again. As I said above, I think we can forgive them a little given the hot afternoon in the field but it just adds to the little poor run that England are on at the moment. 271 in 46.5 overs wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t close to good enough.

South Africa didn’t do much wrong at all on Tuesday and it was a brilliant start to a very long tour of England. As I said in my preview of that game, a fast start to this tour was probably more important than usual. South Africa have an excellent chance to winning the ODI series now, and that will really give them a boost ahead of a long tour. I know this South Africa side aren’t as good as they once were, but you sense this is a good time to face England. Another interesting game awaits!

WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:

Although we saw cricket here very recently, I would definitely go into this game with an open mind on conditions. We have had record heat in the UK this week and that’s bound to have an impact on wickets around the country. Surely we have to see more spin at grounds over the next few days as wickets break up a little. I know we have highly experienced ground staff, but they aren’t used to dealing with 40+ degrees either. I will be very interested to see what the wicket is like here. Obviously India won chasing on Sunday, and that’s two games in a row now where the chasing side has won but historically you want to bat first in Manchester. I would certainly opt to bat if I won the toss.

RECOMMENDED BET:

England have moved out a few ticks, but we more or less have the same prices. I don’t agree with that, and again I expect a closer game than the odds suggest. It was nice to land our first bet of the series on Tuesday, and I’m happy to again have a small wager on South Africa at the odds. You couldn’t really fault their performance on Tuesday – their bowlers did very well and obviously their batters fired too. This England side is just struggling for runs at the moment – nobody is in superb form and firing and they are just not 100%. Obviously you can never write them off given their talent, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they failed to score 300+ again. A small bet on South Africa looks an excellent value option.

The Edge Says:
One point win South Africa to beat England at 2.54 with Betdaq Exchange.

View the market here -> https://betdaq.biz/EngSa2

IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:

South Africa were superb with the bat on Tuesday, and Quinton de Kock only managed 19 runs off 22 balls too. They could go even bigger – I feel their number three and four and pretty important as that allows Miller to come in and be the finisher but overall everything is working well and I’d be very happy to support them again if they bat first. It will be interesting to see what England do now Stokes is gone, but the problem on Tuesday was the middle order again. The openers actually went very well – maybe Buttler in the middle order isn’t a great option and he’s better suited to opening again. They need more from Livingstone and Ali, but as I said above no one is really firing at the moment and getting those big scores. I’d be happy to take on the England batting again.