Gibbs could sparkle on return

South Africa left it much later than they'd have liked to win the first match of their one-day series against New Zealand but with that scare out of the way, they should be confident of taking a series-winning lead by winning Friday's second match in Port Elizabeth.

Bet365 make them 2/5 to win match two and lead the three-match series 2-0, while New Zealand are 7/4.

New Zealand's problems are well-documented - frontline bowlers injured and not enough experience in their batting line-up. They can still play one-day cricket - they have won 12 of their past 20 matches, which is only marginally worse than South Africa's record.

But South Africa are on a roll and they have only lost three of their last 10 at Port Elizabeth - beating New Zealand in their only previous meeting on the ground, in 2005-06.

With no value in the outright odds, it is worth looking for some elsewhere and it could exist in the form of Herschelle Gibbs at 4/1 to be his side's top runscorer. The right-hander is back in the side after a knee injury and he will be itching to get at New Zealand.

Arguably his side's best one-day batsman, at Port Elizabeth, he averages 51, and against New Zealand in South Africa, he averages 70. True, he hasn't played much of late but he made 81 in that win over New Zealand in 2004/05 and usually his the ground running so he could be worth a bet.

For the record, Jacques Kallis heads the betting at 10/3, with Graeme Smith and AB De Villiers at 7/2.

For New Zealand, Scott Styris and Lou Vincent are shaky favourites at 4/1, Jamie How is 9/2 and Ross Taylor and Brendon McCullum 5/1. Further down, Jacob Oram is 7/1 and if the top order have a nightmare, don't be surprised to see captain Daniel Vettori go close at 25/1.