NZ vs SA – Three spinners to help South Africa progress
Published:South Africa’s armoury of spin bowlers should keep New Zealand runs to a minimum and 2/5 seems a price worth taking that Graeme Smith’s team seal a spot in the Cricket World Cup semi finals.
Match Odds
Runs have been hard to come by at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in Mirpur for much of the World Cup, with the slowness of the pitch contributing to the added difficulty in finding the boundary at regular intervals.
The pitch is unlikely to play any quicker in the quarter final and with the array of spin options at Smith’s disposal, their squad looks best suited to cope with the conditions.
There is every chance that South Africa will select Imran Tahir, Robin Petersen and Johan Botha to frustrate the batsmen, while they will still have the pace of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel to fall back on if necessary.
New Zealand are 2/1 in the Cricket World Cup betting to beat Australia and the expected return of captain Daniel Vettori is a massive help to their chances as he is their biggest spin threat.
Otherwise, New Zealand will be relying on the swing of their current leading tournament wicket taker Tim Southee on a pitch that is unlikely to provide him with much assistance.
Top Wicket Takers
If the Mirpur pitch favours spin in the way that it is expected too, Vettori looks an outrageous price at 3/1 to be New Zealand’s leading wicket taker against South Africa.
It is much tougher attempting to find the player to take the most wickets in the South African ranks, but with Tahir arguably being the most attacking of the spin trio, he represents the best value at 7/2.
Petersen is 4/1 in this market and could be an added threat if opening the bowling.
A £20 stake on Tahir winning man of the match against New Zealand would return £240. New customers can sign up here to take advantage of free bets totalling up to £60.
