THE EDGE: Our cricket tipster The Edge previews Wednesday’s 1st T20 ENGLAND v SOUTH AFRICA with a recommended BETDAQ bet.

MATCH OVERVIEW:

After a drawn ODI series thanks to the bad weather, England and South Africa dive into the T20 series on Wednesday at Bristol. Although it’s fantastic for us cricket fans to have all this cricket on Betdaq Betting Exchange, there have been more cries that the International calendar is too packed this week. I think it’s a good time to bring it up too considering that there was only a one day gap for England between the India series and the South Africa series. Jos Buttler is the new white ball captain for England after Eoin Morgan retired, and for such a talented batsman you can perhaps already see it’s taking it’s toll. It’s a stressful job!

England have a run of 12 white ball games in 24 days, some they really struggled with the bat too. After setting a new ODI World Record score against the Netherlands they have failed to really fire with the bat against India and South Africa – in the games they have won, it has mainly been the bowlers leading the way. There is extra pressure this year too, given it’s a T20 World Cup year, and Buttler would have liked to see Stokes in the ODI side but he has also retired from that format. Perhaps this is another fresh star for England this year; losing some of their better known star players. They are still an exceptionally exciting side however, and the younger players are just as talented.

South Africa aren’t the force of old, so England will be expected to win this series. As we saw in the ODI series though, this South African side is in a good place at the moment. Their batting can be hit-or-miss, but their bowling is basically on a par with England. They have the star players in the top four to get a really big score, as we have saw in the ODI series, and you would expect that England will be under pressure again. In a T20 World Cup year, these T20’s are going to have a massive spotlight on them, and we’re in for a cracking series.

WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:

It was interesting to see the England players have a moan at batting conditions recently in England. I suppose this England side is used to having pretty flat wickets – it has been their strength really. From that point of view, it will be interesting to see what kind of wicket we get here. Bristol is a reasonably small ground when you hit straight, but it does have a big outfield square. It wouldn’t usually be a ground of choice for the ECB; they’ve actually only ever hosted three International T20’s here. It would have been four in 2020 but Covid put paid to that; even then that wasn’t an England game it was Ireland v Bangladesh. Bristol will actually be hosting Ireland again soon as they play two T20’s against South Africa. I would definitely keep an open mind on conditions here; we just don’t have the data at the moment to suggest what a par score might be.

RECOMMENDED BET:

You would assume that T20 would bring the sides closer together, and the market agrees. England have moved out eight to ten ticks to trading around 1.69. I have to say I’m excited to see this series more so than the ODI series, especially in a World Cup year. I suggested to back South Africa in all ODI’s because that’s where I saw the value, and we came out on top in that series with the last ODI void. I do feel South Africa will go much better than the odds suggest – even before the rain hit at the weekend they were in a very strong position. England just haven’t flowed with the bat recently, and I would have the sides closer together in the betting. A small investment on South Africa looks the play.

The Edge Says:
One point win South Africa to beat England at 2.42 with Betdaq Exchange.

View the market here -> https://betdaq.biz/EngSa1

IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:

I haven’t got enough International T20 data from this ground to suggest batting or bowling first will be an edge. I felt the biggest edge at the weekend was to keep an eye on the radar and trade the weather angles, but as it turned out it rained so much the game didn’t survive. Thankfully we look set fair here, but with no clear edge for batting and bowling we’ll have to focus on the players. I think South Africa have been playing much better than the odds suggest so far this tour, so I will be happy to take on England when they come to bat – only reason to avoid that trade is if the wicket looks an obvious road, then I would happily just sit out and see how the market develops in-play.