South Africa set to suffer another Oval nightmare

The small matter of the London 2012 Olympic Games is casting a shadow over the three-Test series between the world`s top two teams but England can make everyone stand up and take notice by winning the first match at The Oval in London.

With Lord`s out of action ahead of its use as a London 2012 Olympic Games venue, The Oval hosts the first Test of a series for the first time in 29 years and only the fourth time ever. Traditionally it is the last stop, not the first.

Astonishingly, South Africa has not won a Test match at The Oval since playing England at the home of Surrey cricket for the first time in August 1907. The Proteas have lost six and drawn seven of their 13 Test matches at the venue, including crashing to emphatic losses - eight wickets, nine wickets and six wickets - on their most recent three appearances.

And there are more reasons to support England in this clash of the cricket titans. For while most pundits are saying that there is not much to choose between the sides in this summit clash, they seem to agree that all the little edges, of which there are many, are in favour of the English.

There are probably five key areas in which England holds a distinct advantage over South Africa, the first of which concerns the opening batting partnerships. Andrew Strauss and Alistair Cook have been fundamental to the English team`s success in recent years, responsible for 13 century stands and another 13 partnerships worth between 50 and 99 runs since the beginning of 2008. None of South Africa`s opening batsmen come close to matching those figures.

Second, England has a much more powerful lower-order batting line-up than South Africa. The English`s side batting depth came to the fore against India last year and set the home team on its way to a crushing series victory. Also since the beginning of 2008, England`s seven to 11 batsmen have scored seven centuries and 21 fifties. During the same time period, the seven to 11 batsmen of the Proteas have registered zero centuries and 13 fifties. That is quite a large discrepancy.

Third, England`s bowling attack has more variety than that of South Africa. Both sides have proven fast bowlers but only the English team features a world-class slow bowler, with Graeme Swann clearly the finest spinner on view.

Fourth, England is surely better prepared for the conditions than South Africa. The Proteas have plated two brief tour matches, versus Somerset in Taunton and Kent in Canterbury, and run the risk of being underdone for The Oval clash.

And fifth, England has a settled wicketkeeper-batsman unlike South Africa. AB de Villiers is set to keep wicket for the Proteas after Mark Boucher suffered a career-ending freak eye injury in Taunton. De Villiers is no stranger to the gloves but keeping in limited-overs cricket is a world removed from doing the demanding job in Test cricket.

England is around the 7-4 mark to do what it has done most of the time in recent years - get off to a winning start in a home Test series. The draw is the favourite at around 6-4 because there is some rain forecast for the five scheduled days, with South Africa widely available at odds of 3-1.

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18/07/2012     © Frixo 2024