The World Cup continues on Wednesday with one match taking place at Edgbaston in Birmingham. New Zealand take on South Africa from 10.30am in front of the watching Sky Sports cameras and followers are guaranteed a competitive fixture as both teams battle for the victory. Here are our top New Zealand v South Africa betting tips.
Things are getting serious at this year’s World Cup and we’ve already been treated to our fair share of upsets, exciting moments and thrilling contests. This may not be a game that will capture the imagination of the sport’s casual followers, but it’ll be an honest contest and one both sides will fancy their chances of winning.
Get Value for Money
As is the norm at the ICC Cricket World Cup this summer, bookmakers have laid on an extensive list of betting markets to ensure there’s something for everyone to bet on. This includes match winner, highest first 15 overs, top batsman, top bowler and even heads or tails in the coin toss. You can get your money down on the market that catches your eye before the start or keep your powder dry until we get an idea of how the teams have lined up.
Major online betting firms, including Bet365, offer in-play betting on this match with many of the pre-match markets kept live throughout the course of the afternoon. The prices are updated to keep pace with the play and a bet is as exciting heading into the final few balls as it was before the start. This promises to be an entertaining match, but you can make it all the more exciting by having a punt on the outcome.
Our team of cricket tipsters and sports betting experts have guided followers to profit on many occasions already during this tournament and aim to do the same again on Wednesday. We preview the match, picking through the form of each team involved, before returning with our views on the best bets available. We also flag up which firms are offering market best price on the most popular selections, helping ensure you always get value for money.
New Zealand Land the Hattrick
New Zealand got their World Cup campaign off to the best possible start when recording a win over Sri Lanka in game one, nicking the result by 10 wickets. The board that day read New Zealand 137-0 against a rather pathetic 136 all out of Sri Lanka and the result was never in trouble. A comfortable afternoon for the victors but punters weren’t able to read too much into that result as NZ faced very little in the way of a challenge that day. What we could take from the score, despite the tournament still being in the opening round, was that Sri Lanka would get nowhere near an upset this year.
The Kiwis were able to land two-in-a-row thanks to a battling performance against Bangladesh next time out. They kept their 100% record and were impressive in doing so but the players were made to roll up their sleeves and fight for the win, which would’ve done wonders for team morale. Two wickets was the difference between winning and losing that day, the scores returning 248-8 against Bangladesh’s 244 all out.
Followers of this New Zealand team were intelligent enough to know bigger and better challenges were to come for their side, but they loved the strong start to this World Cup and the players seemed to be enjoying their cricket. The unbeaten run wouldn’t last forever, but the squad were good enough to complete the hat-trick, beating Afghanistan by seven wickets on 8 June. A match they were expected to win, given the level of opposition, but NZ must be credited for getting the job done under pressure. We’ve seen many fancied teams crumble already this summer. 173-3 beat 172 all out, putting New Zealand in a commanding position. NZ are 4/5 favourites with Unibet.
False Start for South Africa
South Africa haven’t had things as good as their opponents so far and endured defeat at the first time of asking when going down to England in their opening contest. The hosts were firm favourites to get the desired result and lived up to expectations thanks to a 104-run victory. They were made to work for the win, but the final result was never in question and from very early on in that match it was obvious traders had the winning side picked and it was always going to be a case of how many England won by.
Disappointing for a South Africa side who knew they were better than the final result suggested and they had to move on, putting the defeat down to them running into a supremely talented opponent who were in the mood to put in a big performance to win over their fans. There’s certainly no shame in losing to England, especially on their own turf, but SA knew there were parts of their game that needed improving, and fast if they were to safe their World Cup hopes and dreams. Unfortunately for fans of the team, it went from bad to worse and the defeat to England was probably the best they have played to date.
South Africa went on to lose to Bangladesh by 21 runs on their second appearance and that served as a real body blow to the team, sucking all the confidence out of the ranks. They looked there for the taking on matchday three where India had no problems sticking the boot in, winning by six wickets on 5 June. There was no result against West Indies due to the weather, but they did beat Afghanistan on Saturday. Another win has been written off as an 11/10 shot (Bet365).