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It is that time of the year when we are all set to witness Classical still entertaining One Day International battles between top International teams by moving away from the Short and sweet Twenty Twenty format which has embraced cricket worldwide. One Day Internationals might sound boring for some but this is where the real cricket fans flock together for 600 balls which will give you lots of Ups and Downs.
To start up the heat-ever entertaining Proteas will take on new heroes of Asia, Afghanistan in the Deserts of UAE for the first time in history. This meet-up will be historic as this is the first time South Africa will take on Afghanistan outside an International Cricket Council Tournament. Furthermore, this Tournament will be more important for Afghanistan to take revenge on South Africa after they got thrown out of the ICC T20 World Cup by South Africa after having such a successful campaign which made them go to the semi-final of that Tournament.
Talking about the statistics, these two sides have met only twice in the ODI format before (in the ICC ODI World Cups 2019 and 2023) and on both occasions, South Africa emerged as victors. Their last meeting as I mentioned previously was in the semi-final of the T20 World Cup 2024, where South Africa raced to an easy and formidable win over Afghanistan.
Statistics might always be favourable for South Africa considering the Young history of Afghanistan Cricket about bilateral series. However, Afghanistan will not be a run-over or piece of cake for Proteas on Afghanistan’s spin-friendly home conditions in UAE.
The ODI Series Schedule and the Venue will be as follows:
All the 3 One Day Internationals will be played in Sharjah which can be considered as a relatively small ground with short boundaries and when considering the statistics it has always been a high-scoring ground in T20 format. However, very few ODI matches have been played there recently. In contrast to the previous years there has been a bit more spin on offer when we played matches in Sharjah and because of that, we can expect an even encounter between Afghanistan and South Africa.
Considering all the stats and information and previous performances that have happened recently, we can put much more weight on South Africa to win the series 2-1, although it will be an interesting tournament with close matches. We can predict that teams will be more enthusiastic to chase in this ground if the conditions remain true to the last few matches played here in Sharjah. Predicting the key players, obviously for Afghanistan will be Rashid Khan with the ball in hand and Rahamanullah Gurbaz with bat in hand along with Ibrahim Zadran. In the case of South Africa, key players will be Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi with ball in hand along with Aiden Markram and Henrich Klassen with bat in hand.
On the other hand, talking about England vs Australia's five-match ODI series will be a thoroughly entertaining tournament consisting of a battle between two evenly matched sides on Pace-friendly English conditions. It will be a mouth-watering tournament for real cricket fans who know the worth of ODI cricket. In contrast to the previously mentioned Afghanistan vs South Africa tournament, this clash between arch-rivals England and Australia will be nothing new to the cricketing world.
Talking about the recent ODI performances and statistics, Australia have won all the last 5 One Day International matches that they have played while England have won only 3 out of the last 5 matches that they have played. Australia has had an edge over England and it is not surprising that the Aussies are current ODI world champions considering their recent form.
The ODI Series Schedule and the Venue will be as follows:
This series will be played in 5 different Venues with lots of traveling and practices in between. Talking about the conditions in offer for the match in Nottingham it will be Pace-friendly conditions with obvious swing on offer for the pace bowlers. There will be very less on offer for the spinners but considering the class of Adam Zampa and Adil Rashid who are wrist spinners leading the attack, we won’t be surprised if they do a trick or a two with their experience. In general, the pitches will be evenly matched for Batsmen as well as bowlers and we are predicting a score between 280 to 350.
Talking about the predictions with regards to the series, we are expecting Australia to win the series 3-2 considering that there won’t be many major injuries to key players in between the series. It will be an evenly contested series with some tight games and some last-over finishes. However, it will be eye candy for real cricket fans.
Key players to watch on both sides will be hard to evaluate considering the quality of the squads. We can assure you that Harry Brook, Adil Rashid, and Gus Atkinson will be the players to watch out for from the England side. On the other hand, for Australia, the key men are the Big Show Glenn Maxwell, the Player of the World Cup Final Travis Head, and Marcus Stoinis closely in the contest along with Adam Zampa.
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