In-form Sri Lanka a tempting bet

Well, well, well. Australia have been beaten twice inside a week, once by South Africa and then by Sri Lanka over the weekend and it's probably with some relief that the hosts stand aside to let the two touring teams fight it out in the sixth match of the VB Series in Adelaide on Tuesday.

Written off before the series began, Sri Lanka, helped by the return of Sanath Jayasuriya, from injury and to form, suddenly look to be a side with momentum and South Africa, shorn of Jacques Kallis, will have their work cut out. That said, bet365 make Graeme Smith's side 1/2 (1.50) favourites to win it, with Sri Lanka a tempting 6/4 (2.50) to clinch back-to-back wins.

Interestingly, Sri Lanka shade the previous meetings between the two sides, having won 20 to South Africa's 18 of the 40 contests. The last one, of course, was match three in this series, when Marvan Atapattu's side ran out comfortable winners and there'll probably be plenty of takers on them at 6/4.

Sangakkara on song
Kumar Sangakkara, who has been in sparkling form and has probably been his side's best batsmen over the past few months, is favourite to top score for Sri Lanka at 7/2 (4.50), while Jayasuriya, fresh from his century, is 4/1 (5.00) and captain Atapattu 9/2 (5.50). Mahela Jayawardene is 5/1 (6.00), Upul Tharanga 11/2 (6.50), while of the rest, perhaps Jehan Mubarak is most tempting at 13/2 (7.50).

For South Africa, bet365 can't split captain Smith and Herschelle Gibbs, who are both 4/1 (5.00). Boeta Dippenaar is 5/1 (6.00) and Jacques Rudolph 11/2 (6.50) but the absence of Kallis is shown by the fact that lower order batsmen Justin Kemp is next in the betting at 7/1 (8.00). And if there's a collapse up top, don't rule out Shaun Pollock top-scoring again, as he did in their last match against Australia, at 20/1 (21.00).

And just a note about the toss in Adelaide. Of the 58 one-dayers to have been played there, 34 of them have been won by the side batting first.