Sri Lanka vs South Africa 1st ODI Betting Tips 02/09/2021

14:07, 1 Sep 2021

Senior Author

14:07, 1 Sep 2021

Zohaib Ahmed is a sports journalist whose profession is to report and edit but whose passion is to predict and bet. He’s been in the industry for more than a decade and has worked/written for various bookmakers/tipsters. His expertise is in cricket, football, MMA, boxing and basketball.

Sri Lanka and South Africa will clash in 1st of their three ODIs on September 2 at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. The match is scheduled to begin at 3pm IST.

Teams Status

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka head into this home assignment on the back of losing all four ODI series this year. They were thrashed 3-0 away in the Caribbean, lost 2-1 away to Bangladesh, lost 2-0 away against England, and then most recently, Indian paid them a visit and clinched the ODI series 2-1.

Clearly, the Sri Lankans have their problems in this specific format but are slightly better in T20Is, although that’s the case with most sub-par sides.

Former captain Kusal Perera has recovered from his bout with Covid but this series comes too early for him. He might be involved in the T20Is later. However, experienced duo of Nuwan Pradeep and Dinesh Chandimal have been recalled on the basis of their domestic performances.

Also in the squad are Legspinner Pulina Tharanga, batsman Kamindu Mendis, offspinner Maheesh Theekshana and seamer Lahiru Madushanka.

South Africa

South Africa have almost been as equally unimpressive as Sri Lanka in ODI cricket this year, although they’ve been far less active in the format, which is understandable as this is a T20 World Cup year.

In their last assignment away in Ireland, they came back from behind to draw the series 1-1 after the first game was washed out. Before that, they were beaten 2-1 at home by Pakistan.

They had been missing a number of regulars during those series and they will again be without the services of Quinton de Kock and David Miller, both of whom miss the ODI series but will be back for the T20Is.

But the Proteas do get Dwaine Pretorius back for both the formats as well as Junior Dala, who marks his return to the ODI side after three years.

Lungi Ngidi won’t be available for the series.

What do the Sportsbook Say

Brand	Sri Lanka	South Africa
	2.37	1.57
	2.37	1.55
	2.44	1.59

South Africa are sizable favourites for the series opener. Bet365 has South Africa priced at 1.57 and Sri Lanka at 2.37. Dafabet has South Africa available for 1.59 and Sri Lanka for 2.44. Lastly, Betway has South Africa priced at 1.55 and Sri Lanka at 2.37.

Tipster’s Angle

Tip: South Africa to win @ 1.59

Conventional wisdom says that the longer the format, the better the chances are for the stronger team to win. If you add up the individual talents of both these sides, South Africa’s sum total would be higher – if only slightly. One can say any number of things about their batting but they do possess world class pacers in the form of Kagiso Rabada and Arnrich Nortje. On that basis, we back South Africa to win the 1^st ODI at odds of 1.59. The play can be found on Dafabet.

Tip: Top batsman for Sri Lanka – Avishka Fernando @ 4.50

He fizzled out in the T20I series later, but Avishka Fernando was superb in the three ODIs against India and contributed scores of 33, 50 and 76. The 23-year-old batter should again open for the islanders and since he appears to be an anchoring opener type, you can bet that he might have a few more big scores up his sleeves. This play can be found on Bet365.

Conclusion

When foreign powers visit subcontinent, the first few matches can prove to be quite a shock and it’s better to stay clear but something tells us that South Africa will defy that trend.