Betting Tips

South Africa and Sri Lanka will be licking their lips come Wednesday. Both teams won their most recent Test series and should be looking forward to continuing that winning streak. This match will present an interesting battle between bowling lineups with differing strengths. South Africa’s pace-bowling lineup should dominate, whereas Sri Lanka’s bowling strength lies in their spinners.

South Africa vs Sri Lanka Head-to-Head Record

The two teams have had quite a break between Tests against each other after only last meeting in 2021. In the last five Tests between them, Sri Lanka have claimed three victories to South Africa’s two. Importantly though, South Africa won their most recent Test series against their visitors.

South Africa vs Sri Lanka Live-streaming and Broadcast

The Test action between South Africa and Sri Lanka will take place from Wednesday, 27 November 2024 to Sunday, 1 December 2024 at Kingsmead, Durban. You won’t want to miss it if you’re in India. The JioCinema app will keep you covered with live-streaming.

SA vs SL Team Previews

South Africa

The return of captain Temba Bavuma is welcome news to the team. Aiden Markram and Tony de Zorzi will need to counteract the new ball, particularly in the first hour of their innings. Middle-order batters like David Bedingham and Tristan Stubbs bring aggressive batting options to exploit conditions.

De Zorzi hit a mammoth 177 runs against Bangladesh in the final Test of the previous Test tour. Tristan Stubbs followed Tony de Zorzi in hitting a century in the same innings.

Wicketkeeping duties will be handled by Kyle Verreynne. He will also be responsible for pushing on the run rate or handling the pressure of a rebuild. Marco Jansen and Wiaan Mulder give Bavuma all-round options to work with.

They give the team flexibility to work with a longer batting and bowling lineup. Mulder expressed his brilliant batting with his maiden ton while on tour in Bangladesh.

World-class Kagiso Rabada leads the pace attack and will threaten Sri Lanka’s top-order with the new ball. Accompanied by the spin of Keshav Maharaj and the youthful exuberance of Gerald Coetzee, the South African bowling lineup has both variety and penetration.

Hometown boy Maharaj's experience in controlling the game after the work of the pace bowlers and Coetzee's raw pace and aggression make them essential to the team's bowling plans. Both Rabada and Maharaj claimed five-wicket-hauls in the second Test against Bangladesh.

South Africa Expected Playing 11

Sri Lanka

Captain Dhananjaya de Silva will lead the resurgence in Sri Lankan five-day cricket. Opening the batting lineup are Dimuth Karunaratne and Pathum Nissanka, who will provide the perfect balance of defence and attack.

Karunaratne's experience and calm approach at the top can stabilise the innings, while Nissanka's flair adds aggression to the mix. In the middle-order, Angelo Mathews will drop the anchor in the middle-order if needed. Karunaratne and de Silva showed promise with scores of 46 and 44 respectively in the second Test against New Zealand in their last Test.

Behind the stumps, Kusal Mendis offers reliability both as a wicketkeeper and a middle-order batter. He claimed an unbeaten century in his previous Test innings. His ability to switch gears between defensive play and boundary-hitting makes him a key player in building or chasing targets.

The inclusion of Kamindu Mendis as an all-rounder enriches the team's depth. He has been a dependable batter in Test cricket for Sri Lanka, especially from his batting performances in England. He backed those batting displays up with a player-of-the-match 182 runs not out innings against New Zealand in the second Test.

Asitha Fernando and Kasun Rajitha will be key components with the new ball. Lasith Embuldeniya’s skill may come to the fore in the latter half of the Test on a pitch that slows down. Prabath Jayasuriya gives another spin option to work in tandem with Embuldeniya.

He claimed 18 wickets in a player-of-the-series outing against New Zealand.

Sri Lanka Expected Playing 11

SA vs SL Toss Prediction

The captain winning the toss is likely to bat first. Both Temba Bavuma and Dhananjaya de Silva will feel confident with runs on the board on the first day of the first Test in the series. A competitive first innings total over 300 runs could be enough for two teams with more than capable bowling lineups.

Pitch and Conditions

Pace and bounce will be a feature of most South African Test grounds. The fast bowlers should be in for a productive first few days, especially with the moving new ball. However, Kingsmead will be one of the slower pitches in the country, as one of the coastal Test venues. The spinners may come to the party on days three to five in particularly. Scores may be on the lower end which makes the first innings crucial.

Rain may affect either the start of the game or parts of the game on day one with a 55 percent chance of rain on Wednesday. The rest of the Test match is expected to be much clearer and partly cloudy at best. Temperatures will be warm, but extremely humid, typical of Durban.

SA vs SL Betting Tips

Form will not be an issue for either team after some terrific recent results in Test cricket. South Africa will be excited by the prospect of their fast bowlers expressing themselves in their own country after a while. South Africa has produced some notable individual Test batting performances recently, but will want to be better as a batting unit. Sri Lanka have also shown promise with the bat.

They could enjoy batting in South African conditions. The biggest battle of this Test will be finding out which bowling group comes up trumps.

Bet on South Africa to win.