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

MATCH OVERVIEW:

After a little break in the tour for the start of The Hundred, England and South Africa return to battle in the 1st Test at Lord’s on Wednesday. The South African tour of England has been fantastic so far, and hopefully we have a wonderful Test series on BETDAQ Betting Exchange. England come into this game as odds on favourites, and South Africa have a number of questions to answer in the Test department. That being said, although England were superb against New Zealand and India this summer – I’m not getting too carried away. Things have gone superbly under Brendon McCullum so far but before that they were a very average side struggling for wins.

Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow return to action after being rested for The Hundred which was a shame for cricket fans to be honest. Joe Root played in a few Hundred games, and it does feel odd not to see Quinton de Kock here and instead playing in The Hundred – of course we all know he retired for family reasons. Playing for South Africa these days does come with its own difficultly. There is a political background that other nations don’t have to deal with. Khaya Zondo was named in the squad – he was the main reasons a letter was written by black African players to CSA after he went on the India tour in 2015 as a reserve batter but didn’t play a single game, not even a warm-up game, and then an extra batter was called for. He played in the warm-up game here against England Lions and scored 86 and 9. It will be interesting if that 86 was enough to earn him a place – it’s a choice between three players.

While South Africa clearly have talent within their side, they are a much weaker Test side compared to the white ball format. Because of competitions like The Hundred, they have lost some of their major players to T20 contracts around the world, and although their bowling line-up still looks strong; they do look reasonably weak in the batting department. England are rightfully odds on favourites here, and it will be very hard for South Africa to get a result.

WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:

There’s no better place to start a Test series than Lord’s. The general rule at Lord’s, especially for Test cricket, is to look up and not down. You really want to bowl here when we have cloudy conditions and you bat when the sun is out. This is definitely a Test to keep an eye on the radar with the thunderstorms forecast – they will be hit or miss to be honest – but we shouldn’t lose enough time to bring the draw into play. The biggest chance of thunderstorms is the first day, so I’d opt to bowl first if I won the toss. We have had two draws from the last four Tests here, but then they were the only draws from the last ten Tests.

RECOMMENDED BET:

While I do expect the odd shower to hit Lord’s, I don’t expect a draw here. From an outright point of view, the draw looks too short to me at 4.2 but I wouldn’t rule it out trading lower from a trading point of view given the highest likelihood of rain is Day 1 at the moment. That could easily change though, so do keep an eye on the forecast and radar as we move closer to the Test. With the draw ruled out for me, it’s a straight shootout between England and South Africa and I’m very happy to be on England at 1.83 here. I fully respect the South African bowling line-up but I just see huge issues with the batting. I can’t see them being even close enough to being able to deal with the England bowling now Anderson and Board are back. They are getting older, but they are still fantastic in English conditions. It’s England all the way for me here, and they are a worth a max bet.

The Edge Says:
Five points win England to beat South Africa at 1.83 with Betdaq Exchange.

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

IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:

The in-running strategy for Lord’s is generally to get on the bowling side when it’s cloudy and get on the batting side when it’s sunny. This has stood the test of time, apart from some blips you always get random events with cricket, but it’s generally a very good strategy. Given we do have some rain forecast, at the moment in the form of showers, this is going to be a Test to keep an eye on the radar and just see what develops. The England batting has been superb under McCullum and you’d have to expect them to attack again here – that will work out well in the sunny conditions, but we might actually see a very low score if they attack under the clouds – especially considering South Africa are better with the ball.