T20 World Cup 2024: USA vs South Africa Best Bets

The T20 World Cup 2024 Super Eight stage kicks off tomorrow afternoon as co-hosts, the USA, face South Africa at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium. In this stage, eight qualifying teams are split into two pools of four, playing a round-robin format to determine the top two sides who will advance to the semi-finals. Let’s look at the best bets to take for this game.

Venue: Sir Vivian Richards Stadium

Betting Preview

In this four-team group, where England and West Indies are the other contenders, two teams will make it to the semis. The USA, with their stunning performances, are eyeing a spot in the final four. They fought hard to beat Canada, edged out Pakistan in a thrilling Super Over, and secured their spot with a washout against Ireland. Despite a narrow five-run loss to India, the USA’s impressive run proves they can compete with the big names. They finished second in Group A and have shown tactical flexibility, like using only pacers for 18.2 overs against India. The Proteas will underestimate them at their peril.

South Africa, perennial favourites but often tagged as ‘chokers,’ almost slipped against Nepal, scraping a one-run win in one of the lowest successful defences. With ten wins in their last 12 T20 World Cup matches, their batting must step up. David Miller is the only player with a fifty and has scored over 100 runs in the tournament. The Proteas must find more consistency to progress from the Super 8s.

The USA has been thrilling to watch in this competition, but their match against India highlighted that they still lack the edge needed to compete with the world’s elite cricketing nations. Although South Africa hasn’t hit their stride completely, we believe they will have the upper hand against the co-hosts in this matchup.

Players to Watch: He’s one of the top five run-getters in the tournament so far, and Aaron Jones (141 runs) will have a bigger role to play here for the United States. He loves the big shots too, smashing 13 sixes in the tournament so far, the most by any batter. 

Jones may find the going not so easy against the fiery Anrich Nortje, who is one of the most frugal bowlers of the tournament. He has nine wickets to his name and conceded just 4.37 runs per over in this edition, and scoring the big hits of his bowling is a tough task. Nortje has conceded just eight sixes from 318 balls delivered in T20 World Cups.

Prediction: South Africa to win at 1.13.

Key Stats

Three of the four matches played at this venue in this tournament were won by the chasing side, while the fourth was a DLS-affected affair.

Five of the last six completed T20s featuring the USA (excluding the tied match against Pakistan) were won by the chasing side.

The United States have scored 23 sixes in this tournament, with only Scotland and Australia scoring more after 39 matches.

South Africa’s average opening partnership at this T20 World Cup is just 10.75 runs.

A spinner topped the bowling charts for South Africa in each of their last two matches.

South Africa’s highest batting total in this tournament is 115, posted in their last match against Nepal.

Four of South Africa’s five T20WC matches against associate nations have been won by the team batting first.

Best Bets

Best Bet: Fall of 1st wicket to be under 18.5 at 1.86.

Alternative Bet: Keshav Maharaj to be South Africa’s top bowler at 4.50.