South Africa v West Indies first Test

Test previews / Editor / 30 October 2007 / Leave a Comment

After South Africa's 2-0 demolition of New Zealand in the two-match Test series, many punters will feel they are deserved short-priced odds in the betting to take their fine form into the showdown with West Indies.

The Proteas landed plenty of bets as they made no mistake on home soil to secure wins in the first and second Tests by 358 runs and an innings-and-59 runs respectively.

They had far too much with both the bat and ball for the tourists as Jacques Kallis weighed in with some hefty scores, racking up 186 in the second innings in the first Test and then followed that up with 131 in the first innings of the final Test at Centurion. He will likely be the subject of many bets to be the top runscorer at short odds in the betting against the Windies.

While Kallis was starring with the bat there was no doubt who was the hero with the ball, as Dale Steyn weighed in with two 10-wicket contributions. The paceman enjoyed two 5-fors (5-34 & 5-59) in the opener at Johannesburg and then picked up 4-42 and 6-49 in the second. He has proved to be a handful for all-comers and the Windies are likely to struggle with his pace and bounce in Port Elizabeth.

The tourists also know they have their work cut out against a side that has been far too good for them in recent previous meetings. The last time the sides met was in a four-Test showdown in the Caribbean in 2004/05 when the Proteas comfortably landed the bets of their backers as they ran out 2-0 winners in the series while the Windies have not tasted success against South Africa since securing a 130-run win in April 2001 in Kingston and are likely to be long odds in the betting to turn that record around this time of asking.

However, for punters looking at the odds to come up with a bet on previous form on the track at Port Elizabeth, will find there has only been one previous head-to-head between the two sides, nine years ago which the hosts won by 178 runs en route to a 5-0 series whitewash.