DP World Lions — Eastern Storm tahminleri

The Super Eights open at the Wanderers with a tidy contrast. DP World Lions arrive having barely broken stride, while Eastern Storm scrambled into the stage at the last possible moment. Results against fellow qualifiers carry forward, so nobody gets a clean slate here.

Lions: a clean record, but look at who signed it

Lions have five wins from six completed games, and the batting is deep. Zubayr Hamza anchors, Rassie van der Dussen sits behind him, and Connor Esterhuizen strikes at close to 200. Against Limpopo he "made light work of the chase" (SuperSport), finishing unbeaten.

The bowling is just as interesting. Against Limpopo they opened with JJ Basson's left-arm seam and Mo Manack's off-spin, with Nqaba Peter's leg-spin in the middle overs. Codi Yusuf closes things out, and "Codi Yusuf was sublime with his death bowling at the end" (Daily Dispatch) after the escape against Iinyathi. The expected XI includes Hamza, Esterhuizen, van der Dussen, Basson, Yusuf, Bjorn Fortuin, Peter and Manack.

The catch is the opposition. Those pool wins came against Limpopo, Northern Cape, Border and South Western Districts, and even Border pushed them close as Lions defended a modest 138.

Storm: survivors of the tougher pool

Eastern Storm came through a pool containing Titans, Western Province and Knights. They beat Knights, then sealed qualification with a bonus-point win over CSA Emerging when nothing less would do. Christopher Britz captains, Ronan Hermann keeps, and Dewan Marais and Jurie Snyman form the middle order.

Snyman won the Knights game nearly single-handed. He rebuilt the innings with the bat, then took a hat-trick to break the chase. The warning came at Newlands, where George Linde's left-arm spin removed both openers and Storm never found the gears again.

The Wanderers rewards the side batting second

This is the number I would pin on the staffroom noticeboard. Across 14 recent T20s here, first innings have gone at 7.49 an over and second innings at 9.43. That is nearly two runs an over in the chaser's favour, which turns the toss into a genuine weapon.

Lions chose to field last time out here and chased aggressively. A dry evening is forecast, so a full twenty overs each looks likely.

Why the long price on Storm is the play

The market prices Lions' record as though it were earned against the same quality as Storm's. It was not. Storm's wins came the hard way, and a ground this friendly to chasers caps how dominant any favourite should be. If Storm bat second, Snyman and Marais only need the openers to see off Manack's early spin.

Even with Lions chasing, they remain favourites, just not by the margin this line implies. Nobody is claiming Storm are the better side. The point is that the price is generous enough to cover the risk.