The ultimate edition of ‘Round the Sports World in five minutes’ for this year takes us to Cape Town in South Africa for an important cricket match in the SA20 and also to Spain, where an in-form Espanyol play hosts to the league leaders Barcelona in a grudge match that could have plenty of goals in it.
MI Cape Town - Pretoria Capitals Cricket SA20
- Start: Wednesday, 31 December
- Venue: Newlands, Cape Town, South Africa
- Coverage: Sky Sports Cricket
- Fun fact: MI Cape Town’s Nicholas Pooran has certainly made the most of life as a T20 freelancer. In addition to playing for the West Indies and captaining the side (he’s now retired from international cricket), he’s represented over 30 different teams, including stints in the IPL, CPL, BBL and PSL.
Betting Tips
MI Cape Town come into this one as strong favourites at 1.57 with Betfred, but that’s not surprising.
Cape Town won this competition last year and have a star-studded line-up that includes a top 3 of Rassie van der Dussen, Ryan Rickleton and Reeza Hendricks, all regulars for South Africa.
They also have Nicholas Pooran, one of the most dangerous players in the whole of T20 cricket, a man who can turn a game on its head in the space of 20-25 minutes. Pooran is 4.33 to top score for Cape Town, while Hendricks, Rickelton and van de Dussen, who are all guaranteed a bat, are all 4.0 to top score for their side.
For Pretoria, the extremely reliable Shai Hope is on offer at 4.0 to top-score for his side and has already done so once this season, with 36 against the Sunrisers Eastern Cape on Monday.
MI Cape Town are already under a bit of early pressure after losing to the Durban Super Giants. Not that the Pretoria Capitals are doing much better, quite the opposite. They’ve played two, lost two, and are currently at the bottom of the table after losses to the Johannesburg Super Giants and the Eastern Cape Sunrisers.
But the Capitals may feel they’ve got a good chance of causing an upset here.
Summary
The SA20 is one of the newest T20 competitions, now into its third edition.
A mix of beautiful South African cricket venues, good attendance by fans, marketing initiatives from its sponsors - including the chance to win big money if spectators catch the cricket ball one-handed when it goes for six - and excellent quality of cricket, have made it a big hit.
South African cricket was in dire financial straits before Betway chose to be the competition’s sponsor, and the money they’ve injected into the competition has been the difference between South African cricket having money to spend and being bankrupt.
But there’s yet another angle to all this. The T20 World Cup will take place in India and Sri Lanka in February this year. Although conditions will be very different in the sub-continent from what these players are currently facing in South Africa, it’s still priceless, high-class practice in competitive matches that they’re getting here ahead of the big one.
Espanyol - Barcelona
- Start: Saturday, 3 January at 20:00
- Venue: RCDE Stadium, Barcelona
- Coverage: Disney+
Betting Tips
BetVictor is pricing up Espanyol at 5.25 to win this match against their bitter rivals, with Barcelona at 1.45 to win and the draw at 4.5.
Goals are expected. Over 2.5 goals is just 1.36, while over 3.5 goals is evens. Both teams to score is just a 1.47 chance, and there are good reasons to think it may come in. After all, before Espanyol lost this fixture 2-0 last year, the previous three here at the RCDE Stadium ended 2-4, 2-2 and 2-2.
55% of Espanyol’s home games have seen both teams scoring at least once so far this season, while 78% of Barcelona’s away games this campaign have gone the same way.
One price that catches the eye is the 2.63 that Barcelona wins the match with both teams scoring.
Summary
Things haven’t gone quite as well for Barca in the Champions League, where they’re just 15th with three wins, a draw and two defeats. They should make the Playoffs at the very least, and will fancy their chances of beating Galatasaray on January 21. If they do, they’d move up considerably in the table.
As for Espanyol, it’s been a strong start to the season for them, and they’re currently in fifth place on 33 points after winning 10 of their 17 league matches so far.
Key to that impressive position in the table has been their recent form, where they’ve won five in a row, getting the better of Bilbao, Getafe, Rayo Vallecano, Celta Vigo and Sevilla.
This will be one of the toughest matches they’ll play all season. They’re certainly coming into it in good shape, and a positive result here will make them believe they can still qualify for next season’s Champions League.
An important aspect of Barca’s success so far this season has been the excellent goalscoring form of their attackers, Raphinha (7 goals), Robert Lewandowski (8) and in particular Ferran Torres (11), all in great form in front of goal.
Betting Tip of the Week: Over 3.5 Goals in Espanyol - Barcelona
There are good stats to suggest that a high-scoring match could be on the cards here.
Barcelona have a 55% strike rate on the road this season in La Liga for over 3.5 goals matches, with their last six ending 0-2, 3-5, 2-4, 2-1, 4-1 and 3-1. This is a game with a history of having plenty of goals in it.
An over 3.5 goals bet would have been a winner in four of the last five games played at Espanyol, so it’s a relatively confident selection.
