England vs South Africa Odds: Back Rassie to top score again

The games continue to come thick and fast for England's white ball squad. After losing the T20 series and ODI series 2-1 to India, they now face a similar schedule against South Africa, starting with three ODI's, three T20s and then a test series. England go into the 2nd ODI at Old Trafford 1-0 down, after a bit of a drubbing at the Riverside. Can they now respond and drag themselves back into the series?

Here at BettingOdds.com, we're gonna be with you every step of the way as your home of cricket and our man Adam Roberts is on hand yet again to pick out two bets for your attention. He nabbed a 9/2 winner in Rassie van der Dussen in the first ODI and is hoping for a repeat here. 

Jos Buttler looked like a deflated man at the end of the first ODI in Durham on Tuesday and who can blame him right now? After a stunning spring, which saw Buttler lead the IPL for runs and then take apart the Netherlands in Amstelveen, Buttler was handed the reins in charge of the England white-ball squad, after the retirement of long term skipper Eoin Morgan. All seemed positive and following the stunning showing for the test team under 'Bazball', it seemed only a national progression for the limited overs lads to play in the same aggressive style and continue to blow international sides away. After a T20 series loss to India and then three losses in their last four ODI's, Buttler and new Head Coach Matthew Mott will be scratching their heads and wondering exactly what has gone wrong?

Well, for a start they have lost a hell of a lot of talent. Let's look at the team that won the World Cup just over three years ago. Gone are Stokes and Morgan from the batting line up, as are Chris Woakes, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood and Liam Plunkett, either through injuries or retirement from the format. The bowling in particular is a huge worry, and while in Reece Topley they appear to have found a long-term option in the ODI team, they are badly lacking pace and hostility. The likes of Matthew Potts, Brydon Carse, David Willey and Sam Curran are fine bowlers, but hardly strike fear into any international batting top order. Topley should return to the team here to replace Potts, who struggled badly with the punishing heat at the Riverside. Willey should also return in the place of Ben Stokes as an extra bowling option.

South Africa will likely remain unchanged after a superb performance on Tuesday with both the bat and ball.

Predicted teams:

England:  Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Jos Buttler (c & wk), Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid, David Willey, Sam Curran, Reece Topley

South Africa:  Janneman Malan, Quinton de Kock (wk), Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Dwaine Pretorius, Keshav Maharaj (c), Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi.

We are going to stick with the form players for our picks and the two top scorers from the first ODI. 

First up we've got the GOAT of English cricket, Joe Root, who is having a simply stunning two years of cricket. After scoring 1708 runs last year in tests, Root has simply carried on where he left off, registering 927 runs in just 9 tests this year. It could be argued that Root is strongest in the ODI format, averaging over 50 in the 50 over game with 16 hundreds and 36 fifties. Root was the one shining light at Durham, accumulating 86 off 77 balls, and I'm expecting him to hold the innings together again.

The 9/2 on offer from bet365 for him to be England's top batter has been boosted from 15/4 and represents excellent value.

In a similar vein, I've stuck with our winning tip from Tuesday, Rassie van der Dussen, to shine again and top score for South Africa. The 33-year-old batted supremely at Durham for his 134 and barely offered up a chance. Similarly to Root, van der Dussen simply accumulates runs, going at over a run a ball without taking any huge risks. He now averages a phenomenal 75 at ODI level, a frightening stat.

The likes of Janneman Malan and Aiden Markram also looked impressive but it is Rassie who knits the Protea's top order together and again he has been boosted out to 9/2 with value kings bet365.