Presently leading the World Tour points table is Australia followed by South Africa. Australia’s significantly increased advantage of a 2-0 victory against West Indies has pushed South Africa’s need to win this series to remain in contention for the WTC finals ahead of Sri Lanka and India. South Africa will likely be unaffected by an Australian tour, having not lost a Test series since 2005. SA players have had fantastic performances on Australian soil with bat and ball.
Australia Top Batter Odds
※ Current Odds Date & Time: December 16, 5:00 P.M. (GMT)
Bookmaker 10bet has given Australia’s number one Test batter Steve Smith the odds of 3.50 to be the top batter for the Australian side. Marnus Labuschagne closely follows the former Australian national team captain with odds of 4.00. Khawaja and Warner closely trail at 4.50 and 5.00, respectively. Australia clearly has a full-strengthened team, but the batters will have to give the performance of their lifetime to break the 17-year curse.
More recently, Australia and South Africa have achieved tremendous success in the Test format as they sit first and second on the World Test Championship points table. There are plenty of thrilling match-ups to look forward to with each club’s top-tier cricketers. The bowling firepower in the absence of Josh Hazlewood’s injury may be the most fascinating aspect.
Usman Khawaja, Australia’s leading Test scorer, has 1,066 runs in 9 matches with an average of 82. In 2022, Khawaja hit four 100s and five 50s. Add to it that Marnus Labuschagne, the top-ranked Test batsman, is in fine form as he’s scored 927 runs at an average of 61.80.
With all that said, we must not forget Steve Smith, Travis Head, and David Warner as they form a formidable batting order. While Australia’s ace pacer Josh Hazlewood will miss Test One, look for pacer Scott Boland or Lance Morris to take his place.
Boland has 14 wickets this season and Morris has yet to debut. Spinner Nathan Lyon has been the highest wicket-taker for Australia with 39 cleans in 9 matches, while captain Pat Cummins has 28 wickets in 8 outings. Mitchell Starc has 27 wickets this year, and the Proteas batters will find it challenging to take on this Australian bowling team playing on home soil.
South Africa Top Bowler Odds
※ Current Odds Date & Time: December 16, 5:00 P.M. (GMT)
South Africa has covered all of their bases by having a team composed of high-quality bowlers and explosive batters. Bookmaker 10bet has given the seventh-ranked test bowler Kagiso Rabada odds of 3.50 to be the top bowler for the South African side. He is closely followed by Anrich Nortje, who has been given odds of 3.75. South Africa’s bowling side can threaten Australia’s batters as they have the likes of Gerald Coetzee and Keshav Maharaj with odds of 4.00 and 4.50, respectively, and the list doesn’t end here. Australia will have to step up their game to maintain its top position at the WTC table.
South Africa’s top Test scorer is captain Dean Elgar with 546 runs in 9 matches, while Keegan Petersen has 399 runs. Temba Bavuma, Sarel Erwee, Rassie van der Dussen, and wicket-keepers Heinrich Klaasen/Kyle Verreyne are in the batting order as well.
South African batters are facing a difficult challenge to advance to the WTC finals. Bowler Kagiso Rabada leads Proteas’ bowling department as Africa’s top wicket-taker with 37 cleans in 7 matches. Marco Jansen has 32 wickets in 6 matches and shares pace-bowling duties with Rabada. With them, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi, and Keshav Maharaj form the remainder of the bowling department.
The latest Test series between Australia and South Africa was in March 2018 with the Proteas winning 3-1 on home soil. The third Test in Cape Town marked a new infamous ball-tampering scandal that rocked Aussie cricket. After winning Test One by 118 runs, Australia struggled. They lost the next three Tests with Pat Cummins as a standout for Australia and taking 22 wickets at an average of 21.45.
Australia vs. South Africa Test Winner Odds (Outright)
※ Current Odds Date & Time: December 16, 5:00 P.M. (GMT)
Although South Africa seems to have the upper hand, Australia has the home-ground advantage where they can reverse the odds. This is likely why Australia has been booked as favourites to win the series by bookmaker 10bet with odds of 1.42. South Africa is in no way the underdogs with their explosive team; however, the visitors will play with the odds of 4.45. In addition, bookmaker 10bet has predicted the series to draw with the odds of 6.75.
South Africa won the 2016 series in Australia, defeating the hosts 2-1, a setback for Australia where an inning and 80 runs beat them. Australia will be eager to make amends for some of their previous disappointing Test performances against South Africa this time.
All indications are that this will be a competitive, interesting, and hard-fought series. Which country will walk away as victors in the next episode of this heated rivalry?
