New Zealand evens to draw level

The second one-day international between South Africa and New Zealand takes place in Cape Town on Friday, giving the tourists the chance of revenge after their narrow defeat in the opening match of the five-game series. Stephen Fleming's side dominated for three-quarters of the match in Bloemfontein and only some superb lower-order batting from Suoth Arica gave the home side victory. New Zealand are even money (2.00) to level the series, while South Africa are predictable favourites at 8/11 (1.72).

You have to think, though, that New Zealand may have blown their best chance to get a foothold in the series. Though they played superbly, they were unable to finish off Graeme Smith's side, and the selectors may now be ruing the decision to leave Chris Cairns at home. The all-rounder may have been able to stop the lusty hitting of messrs Kemp, Boucher and Pollock.

Cape Town, too, does not offer them too much hope of a turnaround. South Africa have won 17 of the 20 one-day internationals to have been played at Newlands, and they haven't lost their since April 2000, when the Aussies got the better of them. New Zealand have lost both their matches there.

The glimmer of hope for New Zealand, in addition to the general way they played in Bloemfontein, is that South Africa's top order are not at their best yet. Smith, Jacques Kallis and Herschelle GIbbs, three of their main batsmen, still look out of touch and New Zealand have to keep it that way if they are to have a chance. Of course, their pedigree is such that Smith tops the batting with bet365 to be top Suoth Africa runscorer at 100/30 (4.33), while Kallis is 7/2 (4.50) and Gibbs is 4/1 (5.00). Boeta Dippenaar is a 5/1 (6.00) chance, while AB De Villiers is also 5/1 (6.00) and Justin Kemp, who top-scored at Bloemfontein, is 13/2 (7.50) for a repeat performance. Mark Boucher is 11/1 (12.00), while Pollock is 25/1 (26.00). Of those, Dippenaar averages almost 50, while Kemp could be due for another good performance as he averages 57 in two matches there.

For New Zealand, Fleming is the favourite at 100/30, having looked in good nick in the opening match. Nathan Astle is 4/1 (5.00), while Hamish Marshall and Scott Styris are both 5/1 (6.00) and Lou Vincent and Craig McMillan are both 6/1 (7.00). McMillan top-scored in the first innings and is a decent price to do so again.

South Africa hit four sixes to New Zealand's three in the first match and they are evens (2.00) to do so again, while bet365 go 5/6 (1.83) both teams in the betting for which opening partnership makes the most runs.