Australia vs. South Africa ODI highest opening stand betting tips

Australia vs. South Africa, Sunday, June 12, 3am AEST, Warner Park Sporting Complex, Watch on Fox Sports

Head-to-head:
Australia: $1.62 with WilliamHill.com.au
South Africa: $2.25 with WilliamHill.com.au

SET the early alarm clocks Sunday morning (or just watch when you get home from partying) to see if Australia can turn the tables on South Africa in the cricket Tri Series in the West Indies.

The Australians had a stunning batting collapse that consigned them to a 47 run loss to the Proteas on Tuesday and will have revenge on their mind.

And it will be up to star opener David Warner, who was dismissed in the second over for just one run off five balls, to stand up and be counted to ensure it does not happen again.

He and his fellow jet Aaron Finch are the premier one day international opening batting pair in the world, yet it seems like the pair rarely fires together.

One gets out early and the other goes on with it.

And that was true against South Africa, with Finch starring with 72 after Warner fell.

The Australian pair is $1.80 with WilliamHill.com.au to claim the highest opening partnership after their failure last match.

This pair is inseparable.

Despite Warner being more than two years older than his current captain Steve Smith, Finch has recently been on the front foot, saying the master blaster is ready to lead the Australians after a dominant Indian Premier League season that yielded the title for Sunrisers Hyderabad.

“I think a part of that is having confidence in your own game but also having the confidence of your teammates in your own game as well, that you’re almost the number one picked player,” Finch said of the vice captain.

”And Warner is certainly that, along with Steve.

“They’ve been exceptional for a long time now and as captain and vice-captain they’ve done a fantastic job.

“I think if something did happen and Warner had to take over, he’d do an amazing job as well.

“To lead the Sunrisers to the title I think shows how much he loved the responsibility of captaining.

“He led from the front with the bat, in the field he led from the front and I think as a captain he was someone who captained the way that he plays.

“He always took the aggressive option, he never backed down.

”They didn’t start off the tournament overly well but I think he stuck to his guns, stuck to what he believed was right and they got the job done.

“It’s all about backing your ability and backing what you think is the right thing at the right time and he certainly did that.

”The way he dominated the tournament with the bat, but also winning close games in finals shows a lot of character from a team and a leader, so he was outstanding.“

They have some stiff competition in South African legend Hashim Amla and the handy Quinton de Kock.

That pair only put together a 29 run stand last game, but it was enough for them to take the chocolates.

Something tells us they will need to do more in this game to get over the line against the Aussie pair.

We are backing in the Aussie pair to do the business, with Warner to bounce back with a big score to give them the ascendancy in this one.

Match predictions

Match result: Australia to win ($1.62 with WilliamHill.com.au)
Most sixes: Australia ($1.90 with WilliamHill.com.au)
Highest opening stand: Australia ($1.80 with WilliamHill.com.au)

This has all the makings of a bounce back game for the Australians. The bowling was great, the batting was woeful. There will be some soul searching in the green and gold camp and these guys are made of stern stuff, watch them come out and turn things around with the bat and win this match.

The Aussies hit three sixes – all off the bat of Finch – to the South Africans’ two, so it is a bit of a toss of the coin, but you look through the list and you just feel the Australians have the bigger hitters. If they can top the Proteas in a loss, they should have no trouble doing it in a win.

After bowling well to restrict the South Africans to 9/189 of their 50 overs, the Aussies lost opener David Warner and then gun number three Usman Khawaja to be left reeling at 2/10.

It did not get much better from there, the following six wickets falling for the addition of just 70 runs.

At 8/90, things looked all over, but a rear guard action from number 10 Nathan Lyon (30 off 31 balls), partnering with the only man who could hold his head up high, opener Aaron Finch, gave the Australians hope.

But, when Finch fell for a patient 72 off 103 balls, including six fours and three sixes, the damage was done.

The Aussies were skittled for 142, too many guilty of big shots when they were not required.

With the rock, Kennedy Rabada took the new ball and speared through the green and gold batting line up, claiming 3/13 off his seven overs, backed up by his opening partner Wayne Parnell who grabbed 2/23.

Left arm orthodox Aaron Phangsio and leggie Imran Tahir did the rest of the damage, snaring two wickets each.

For the Proteas, Farhaan Behardien led a late order fightback after they looked in trouble at 6/112.

He struck 62 off 82 balls to be the best South African, after Hashim Amla opened up with 35 off 46. The rest were bit part contributions.

The Aussie bowlers were economical and shared it around, with Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Glenn Maxwell grabbing two wickets each.