Can South Africa clinch the ODI series against New Zealand?

Game 2 in the three-match one day international series between South Africa and New Zealand takes place at the Port Elizabeth ground this Friday. After the first game went down to the wire, the visitors will be hopeful of another competitive showing, while the home side will be looking to clinch the series with another victory.

South Africa will welcome back Herschelle Gibbs from a knee injury suffered during the second Test to bolster the batting lineup, while speedster Dale Steyn is likely to be included to add some bite to the bowling attack. Although delighted with their win, the South Africans are clearly a stronger side on paper and will be looking for a better all around effort in this match to emphasize their supremacy. Man of the match in Game 1, AB de Villiers was the top scorer but will be hoping the top order fires this time around to take some pressure off the middle and lower order. Andre Nel was the unlikely hero with two mighty boundaries in the final over, but if the South Africans are relying on Nel to score the winning runs then they are probably struggling!

New Zealand will still be ruing lost opportunities from the first match, where they looked to have the game in the bag but did everything to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. While their batting was solid, with contributions from most of their batsmen, the Kiwi effort in the field was simply not up to scratch. Dropped catches were costly, and their bowling depth was exploited. Opening bowler Kyle Mills was superb with career-best figures of 5-25, and while skipper Daniel Vettori was again economical, they were not well supported by the remainder of the attack. Styris, Martin and Gillespie will need to find a way to stem the flow of runs to tie down the attacking South African batsmen and build some pressure.

The Kiwis effort in Game 1 hasn't shortened their odds too much in the betting markets, with value still to be found on an upset at $2.85 at Sportsbet Australia. However if South Africa can find some form and play up to their normal high standard then they should be a pretty safe bet at $1.42.

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