Twenty20 World Cup / Edward Hammond-Kenny / 04 May 2010 /

Anything but a comprehensive win for Graeme Smith's men would be seen as a huge upset in this match but Duckworth-Lewis does funny things to totals to be chased. Failing that, it will be another opportunity for Jacques Kallis to fill his boots, says Edward Hammond-Kenny.

Afghanistan v South Africa

Venue and Conditions

The second match of the day at the Kensington Oval in Barbados sees the minnows of Afghanistan take on the giants of South Africa. Can the Afghani's pull off an upset? Probably not, but South Africa have to win to qualify so they are under a little pressure. No doubt the local support in Barbados will be rooting for the underdogs.


Team News

The Afghan management may want to give their whole squad the experience of playing a World Cup game and with only two batsman making it into double figures against India, there is certainly scope for plenty of changes.

The South African bowling was one-dimensional against India. Charl Langeveldt or Juan Theron should get a run out to provide Graeme Smith with more firepower. Loots Bosman looked out of touch but is a dangerous player on his day and should keep his place at the top of the order.

Match Odds

As expected the South Africans are prohibitive favourites, available to back at a near base price of [1.03] on the Match Odds market. The Afghanis were undone by pace bowling against India so are up against it somewhat with the likes of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel in the opposition's line-up.

Perhaps rain is the only chance the Afghanis had for an upset. As the West Indies v England game on Monday showed, there is a strong bias to a team batting second in a rain-affected game. With the long term forecast (for what it's worth) suggesting showers might be in the air, the best chance the Afghanis might have is to win the toss and field, then hope the shadowy figures of Duckworth and Lewis can conjure up a nice chasing equation for them.

Top Batsman

Jacques Kallis never appears to turn down the chance to score easy runs so will be eyeing a big score in this game, though at odds of around [3.5] he will be a short enough price. Once again, in a one-sided match its hard to look beyond the top three in the order, so Bosman or Smith will be the main threat to Kallis.

Noor Ali made 50 against India and Asghar Stanikzai made a defiant 30, while the rest of the team misfired. Stanikzai also scored an upbeaten 39 in a warm up game against Ireland so may be one to follow on form.

Featured Market

Kallis looked in good form against India while Smith looked rusty after an injury break. Go with the form on the Smith v Kallis head to head market and take Kallis at [1.9].

Trivia

Jacques Kallis has played 137 Test Matches in his career to date, the whole Afghanistan squad meanwhile has played a combined 132 international matches of any type.

Best Bet

Ed Hammond-Kenny says: Back Asghar Stanikzai to top score for Afghanistan at [7.0] or better.

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