Afghanistan VS South Africa 1st ODI Location: Sharjah Cricket Stadium, UAE
Afghanistan VS South Africa 1st ODI Date: Wed, September 18
BetXchange Afghanistan VS South Africa 1st ODI Odds:
History
This will be the first bilateral ODI series between South Africa and Afghanistan as the Afghans continue to build a presence on the international cricketing stage. The series will be held in the UAE, with all three matches set to occur at Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
While not as well known as Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Sharjah is the third most populous city in the UAE, with a metro population of almost 2 million people. South Africa will follow this three-match ODI-only series with a five-match mixed white ball clash with Ireland in Abu Dhabi, beginning with a T20I on September 27.
This will be the first meeting of South Africa and Afghanistan on the oval since the Proteas beat Afghanistan to reach the final of the T20 World Cup in June. The match marked Afhghanistan’s worst performance in the tournament, as South Africa bowled them out for just 56 runs. They will look to put up a much greater fight here on a wicket in the Middle East that should be much more suited for attacking batting play.
Afghanistan
Afghanistan will have a familiar face back in the lineup for this ODI series. All-rounder Rashid Khan has recovered from a back injury to reclaim his place in the squad.
As it happened, Khan didn’t miss any cricket. All five days of Afghanistan’s one-off Test against New Zealand earlier this month were rained out without a ball being bowled. This marked just the eighth time in the history of Test cricket that a match has been entirely washed out.
Afghanistan still has injured players missing. Ibrahim Zadra and Mujeeb Ur Rahman will not play in this three-match series, opening the door for a couple of new caps for the country in the 50-over game. Abdul Malik and Darwish Rasooli are both top-order batsmen with plenty of promise who will look to take this opportunity and run with it.
South Africa
South Africa has named a solid but developmental squad for this series. The most notable returning name is pace bowler Lungi Ngidi. Ngidi has barely played international cricket since last November, and a calf injury has limited his selection availability.
There are also new faces in the squad as the Proteas look to expand their pool of players with international experience with more and more cricket on the calendar. All-rounder Andile Simelane has been called up to the full South African squad for the first time in any format, while all-rounder Jason Smitch and spin bowler Nqaba Peter are looking for their maiden ODI caps have previously seen Proteas action in the T20 game.
Best Bets
Aiden Markran (27/10) and Temba Bavuma (14/5) led the market for best SOuth African batsan. If you like Ngidi to come back firing, he is 2/1 to be the best bowler of the Proteas group. This seems like a good bet, with frontline seamers Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen, Anrich Nortje, and Gerald Coetzee all missing out on this series.
