England v South Africa Second ODI: 3 Bets to Take

After losing in Ben Stokes’s final one-day international, England will be looking to level the series when they face South Africa at Old Trafford today. The Proteas have not won a bilateral men’s series in England in any format since the 2012 Test series and will be looking to change that today.

I’ve put together three bets to take for the .

England

England have plenty of questions to answer regarding their ODI side, especially now that Stokes has retired and have to respond in this match with the series on the line. Jos Buttler’s side bats deep and should respond positively as they did in the second ODI against India after losing at the Kia Oval. Therefore, consider backing an England victory to level the series.

Jonny Bairstow

Jonny Bairstow was on course to be England’s top batsman in the first match but he agonisingly fell for 63. The fact that he opens gives him a better chance of being the home side’s top batsman and he comes into this match in relatively good form after a fantastic Test series against India. He was not as good in the ODIs but showed signs of hitting form again In the first ODI against South Africa.

He’s been England’s top batsman in 4 of his last 16 ODIs which is more than any other player in the squad. The last time he played an ODI at this ground, he whacked 112 against Australia in 2020. Back him to be the home side’s top batsman today.

Highest Individual Score

With the quality of batters that will be on show today, I expect the highest individual score of the match to be over 102.5. The Old Trafford wicket generally offers something for the spinners, despite that I don’t see that causing that much havoc for the batter, therefore expect some to score over 1.2.5 runs.