South Africa v Bangladesh: Tamim to row against the tide

Jamie Pacheco
01 June 2019

Tamim Iqbal could cause South Africa problems

Join

View market

Twitter

Facebook

View the Betslip

South Africa should open their account for the tournament but may find a tough nut to crack in the form of Tigers' opener Tamim Iqbal, says Jamie Pacheco.

"But the man to beat is clearly Tamim Iqbal. Over the past four years he’s averaged 52, his 17 fifties dwarf the 14 of Shakib and 11 of Rahim and his five centuries are also more than anyone else. He has World Cup experience, knows English conditions well and looked in good nick in that Tri-Series against Ireland and the West indies, scoring 80 against the latter and 57 against the former."

South Africa v Bangladesh
Sunday June 2, 09:30
Live on Sky Sports Cricket and Sky Sports Main Event

Proteas need to move on from England game

It's probably too early to be thinking about this but if South Africa fail to make the last four, they might just look back at their opening match against England as a missed opportunity.

They conceded about 30 more than they should have, given not a single England player got to 100 and on several occasions lost a wicket just when they were on course to going close to chasing England's total. Quinton de Kock in particular will be disappointed with the method of his dismissal.

You also have to question why Hashim Amla returned so late after retiring hurt. If he was deemed to be ok after being hit on the helmet and could bat, then why not let him return as soon as possible? Surely you want your best players out there for as many overs as possible.

If Dale Steyn is passed fit, he should slot straight back into the team at the expense of Dwayne Pretorius, who had a poor game on Thursday. That would mean Kasigo Rabada batting at eight and Styen at nine. If not, it would be no surprise if Chris Morris comes in for Pretorius.

They also have the option of bringing David Miller into the middle order.

Lack of confidence plaguing the side

Bangladesh continue to under-perform in ODIs.

When you look at the players they have on board, there's a strong spine to the team. Tamim Iqbal's stats as an opener are up there with the best ODI players in the game, Shakib Al-Hasan is after all the Number 1 ranked all-rounder in this format, Mushfiqur Rahim is a fine middle order batsman and even better keeper, Mustafizur Rahman is a wily left-arm bowler who can bowl at decent pace and Mehidi Hasan is a good spinner with an impressive economy rate.

As for Mashrafe Mortaza, who's carrying a hamstring injury but should be fit to play, his best days are behind him as a bowling all-rounder but he knows the game inside out and of even greater importance to the team is his leadership. Not always so easy when you're in charge of some quite spiky characters.

I guess the problem is the other five. There are some areas of weakness throughout the team but aside from their shortcomings in technical and physical terms, they're always a side who seems to lack a bit of confidence, especially when away from those dustbowls at home.

At least little is expected of them, which should help.

Should be a good batting track at The Oval

The surface looked a good one when England posted 311 against South Africa.

The magic 300 mark should be what the side batting first should be targeting here.

Going by Thursday's game, slower balls and other variations are the way to go when bowling. Very often the quicker you bowl it at The Oval, the quicker it disappears to the boundary.

South Africa should get off the mark

These two have played each other six times in the last four years- all in Bangladesh- with South Africa winning four of them.

The Proteas are just 1.321/3 to win the game and that looks about right.

Bangladesh's best chance here would probably be to chase. SA don't post huge totals like they use to when AB de Villiers was around so if they can be restricted to about 300 or just above, Bangladesh might fancy themselves to come close to chasing that.

They have in Tamim Iqbal a player who can score quickly at the top of the order, guys like Shakib who can keep the scoreboard ticking along and some players in the lower middle order who can hit big.

Can they hold their nerve, though? If the Tigers do chase, a back-to-lay on the Exchange would be the way to go.

Tamim ticks all the boxes

I'd really like to make a case for Shakib here at 4/1. Over the last year or so he's been batting at three rather than his usual slot at five and that's given him far more time at the crease to play more patient innings. Mushfiqur Rahim is very capable at the same price and over the course of the last four years has a considerably better average of 44 to Shakib's 38 but Rahim has 11 not outs in that period which have helped boost that average considerably.

But the man to beat is clearly Tamim Iqbal. Over the past four years he's averaged 52, his 17 fifties trump the 14 of Shakib and 11 of Rahim and his five centuries are also more than anyone else.

He has World Cup experience, knows English conditions well and looked in good nick in that Tri-Series against Ireland and the West indies, scoring 80 against the latter and 57 against the former.

At 13/5 he looks a good one.

Phehlukwayo always in the game

Andile Phehlukwayo, a bit like Ben Stokes, is one of those players who's always in the game. Bats at seven, often bowls his full quota of ten overs, fields well.

He often bowls at the death and has the tendency to pick up plenty of cheap wickets when bowling against lower-order batters. He may also have a bigger role to play with the bat than one might think if SA's top order carry on playing rash shots and at 20/1, should give you a good run for your money for Man Of The Match honours.