The Best Value Betting for the Third Test – England v South Africa

Matt Prior is the man to back

The third and final test of the summer is upon us, as England battle South Africa at Lords. The Proteas are 1-0 up in the series, so Andrew Strauss’s men will be going all out for the win. 

  

The whole situation regarding Kevin ‘he’s not the messiah, he’s just a very naughty boy’ Pietersen and those text messages has been played out messily. 

Whether or not he sent those texts – or what the content contained within was – the bottom line is that you couldn’t imagine any other country on this Earth of ours having such a scenario played out so publicly in the media.

One theory though is that this will have a galvanising effect on the England side, with the elephant that was in the room now very much outside it and watching on TV. So you can James Taylor to move up to five in the batting order, and KP’s replacement Jonny Bairstow to come in at six. This could be the making of these two fine young talents.

Top Batsman

The conditions at Lords are set fair, but with thick cloud predicted for most if not all of the five days. In addition, it is highly likely that the ground staff will have been instructed to prepare a ‘results’ pitch. This is going to make batting - and betting - tricky...

For that reason, here at Route One we are predicting the top order batsmen will struggle against the swinging new ball. So, take the 10/1 being offered for Matt Prior by William Hill to be England’s Leading Match Batsman. He normally comes in at seven, when the ball has lost its shine and the wind has long gone out of the sails of the South African attack. 

For the very same reasons, we’re expecting AB De Villiers to flourish at five for the Proteas, so the 5/1 being offered by Sporting Bet for him to finish as First Innings Leading Run Scorer looks very tasty indeed.

Top Bowler

With the cloudy and hazy conditions, you would expect the bowlers who can get the ball to zip around to come to fruition. In Jimmy Anderson (9/4) and Vernon Philander (5/2), we have two of the world’s best swing bowlers in action, and both look decent shouts at their respective odds.

Result 

With the dense London cloud cover set to hover above, and the need for a result, we really cannot see the possibility of a draw (8/5). With England’s young middle order looking a tad fragile, take the 7/4 offered by Sporting Bet for South Africa to spoil Andrew Strauss’s 100th cap party, like an over-amorous drunk Aunt at a wedding disco.