- Ben Stokes does not have a fifty in his last five innings in South Africa
- This is Dom Sibley’s first fifty-plus score in seven innings
- Not once has England saved their fifth wicket before crossing 250 in their last five Test innings against South Africa
South Africa vs England 2nd Test Day 4 match prediction
After a day of dominance by the England side, the hosts South Africa would bounce back on Day 4 of the 2nd Test at the Newlands Cricket Ground, in Cape Town
Mondays are the worst, aren’t they? Except when the Cricket is the negative aspect of new work-week starting gets negated. As this is the Test season, Australia vs New Zealand game will greet you when you wake up in the morning and by the time you’re ready for the grind, the South Africa vs England game would hold your hand and walk you through the bumpy road. So speaking about the Proteas vs the Poms, the Day 4 at Newlands would be the decisive day for who wins the game and we would recommend you don’t miss the action. After advantage England on Day 3, South Africa would want to stake a claim on Day 4. To make it even better, for you punters, we have arranged a sumptuous meal of winning bets and produced a platter on the table. So enjoy the game while earning some easy money!
The Day 3 ended with England losing its fourth wicket, in the form of Dom Bess, taking a 264-run lead at 218/4. With opener Dom Sibley still at the crease, batting it out at 85 (222), the next man joining would be star all-rounder Ben Stokes. Even though the touring England side seem to have an edge now, their form and highly dedicated data show that they will lose a wicket before/within the next 38 runs. In their last five innings, England have scored these many runs when losing their fifth wicket: 222, 143, 262, 277, 121, so that’s 205 runs on an average. Against South Africa, the same form guide is: 222, 143, 187, 129, 202, again that gives us an aggregate total of 176.6 runs (at the loss of the fifth wicket).
The aggregate we are looking at for the fifth wicket is not more than 251 runs and it is fulfilled everyday. We have this set of data which already established that England loses their fifth wicket way before 250 runs. So with the odds for England’s wickets lost at 250 runs to be over 4.5 at 1.72, we tell you it’s the safest bet possible. But since your Monday blues might make you a bit sceptical, we have decided to make you a 100 percent sure before placing this bet. So to validate, we have strained out the numbers for England in South Africa and we got a form based data of 222, 143, 211, 58, 202.
After England lost Dom Bess, on the final delivery of the third day, No. 6 Ben Stokes had to wait for his number till the start of Day 4. Now the thing about this star all-rounder is, he is always expected to do great things. But the truth is since the extremely famous Leeds Test in August wherein Stokes produced one of the best Test innings of all time, he has been a little off. So I wouldn’t want my favourite punters to bet on something huge for Ben Stokes.
However, this star will at least double up your money on this otherwise lousy Monday and make it an interesting one. In his last five innings, Stokes has scored 47, 14, 35, 26, 28 and that gives us an average of 30 runs in these completed innings. His average runs scored in the last five innings played against South Africa is 35.4 runs. Whereas, when we look at his last five innings in South Africa, including the last innings of this Test, the average number of runs scored by him is 27.8. So this gives us a steer clear that the all-rounder will score above 27.5 runs and with the odds for it placed at 1.90, it’s one of the best bets from the game.
Warwickshire batsman Sibley saw the fall of his fellow opener, Zak Crawley, when he edged to Rabada for 25, and then went on to build a 73-run partnership with Joe Denly. Following that captain Joe Root (61) kept him company for 116 runs, a partnership that put England in a good position. After having failed to fire in three previous Test outings, Sibley has looked comfortable at Newlands, where he will return on Day 4, just 15 runs shy of a maiden Test hundred. But since his form suggests a tricky way of seeing this, it’s a bit hard at this moment for us to root for his century.
But what his form and numbers help us with is something that we would turn into money for y’all. Sibley’s form in completed innings, before the one underway, of course, suggests that he will lose his wicket before the fall of Ben Stokes. In his last five Test innings, Sibley has scored: 34, 29, 4, 4, 12. In all those five innings Sibley has lost his wicket before Ben Stokes did. In all of England’s last five Test innings, Stokes has kept his wicket till the English openers were dismissed. In their last five Test innings in South Africa, again both openers have lost their wicket before Stokes. So take a rest and chill out with a cup of coffee while placing this safe bet that has odds of Sibley to be the next man out placed at 1.72.
