England look to cause shock

While the two-game Twenty20 series serves well to whet the appetite of spread bettors, many of them will be delighted that England's tour of South Africa is edging closer towards the main event with the onset of the one-day series. Before the December commencement of the Test dates, the five 50-over matches will also give a good early indication to patriotic punters looking ahead to the 2011 World Cup.

Spread buyers of their supremacy for the opener will notice that Andrew Strauss's men won both of their one day warm-ups; with the captain in superb form notching scores of 72 against Eagles and 117 not out versus Warriors - both at close to a run-a-ball.

Spread punters who like to get with the skipper will know that this marks a remarkable turnaround in fortunes - he was dropped from the ODI side as recently as 2007 and, after a two year hiatus, only reinstated due to being named leader.

Since then sellers of his performance have been frustrated as frequently as many of the bowlers the Middlesex man has faced. His 2009 sum of 575 runs going into the series means he's accumulated more than anyone else in the touring party, while his seven catches is the third-best total.

Spread bettors looking at buying individual players' runs for the opening game will see that Strauss is the only Englishman to hit a ODI ton this season and his four half-centuries mean he's been the most prolific to remunerate spread buyers in the 50-ups market.

Vice-captain and short-form specialist Paul Collingwood is an able deputy and spread buyers of his performance this year have been rewarded with a total of nine catches in 16 matches - better than one every other game and second only to Matt Prior. The team's best fielder has also been prolific with the bat and ball - the joint-third wicket-taker has 13 victims from the 15 innings in which he's bowled and notched 512 runs from the 15 times he's gone out to bat.

Three not-outs elevate his average to 42.66 - comfortably higher than all bar Tim Bresnan's 48.75, although the Yorkshire all-rounder's is from fewer games and his place in the starting XI is not quite as assured.

Spread punters taking a longer-term view of England's one day performances will know that they have won 40 percent of their ODI games overseas - down from 49.9 percent when looking at all 522 matches in their history.

Sellers of their supremacy will also be aware that their overall record against South Africa shows defeat in 54 percent of their clashes compared to just 20.9 percent in Tests - albeit draws are more common here.

As the home side, and third-best in the ICC ODI standings, it's hardly surprising that the Proteas are massive odds-on favourites to take the series. Not only this, but buyers of their supremacy spreads in any of the five matches will know that they have the greatest all-time win percentage of any ICC-ranked one day country at 64.45.