Who Will Win Tshwane Spartans vs NM Bay Giants, MSL 2018?
Nelson Mandela Bay Giants will look to boost their chances of a top three finish when they take on the Tshwane Spartans in this 25th fixture of the Mzansi Super League 2018. The match will be played on December 8 at the St George's Park in Port Elizabeth. Live telecast is scheduled to start at 7 PM local time.
NMBG vs TS, MSL 2018: Where to Watch/Live Streaming
TV channels: Sony Six, Sky Sports Cricket, OSN Sports Cricket HD, Ten Sports, Channel 9
Live Streaming: SonyLIV, Bet365, Sky Go, OSN Play, SuperSport Live
Toss Prediction
The last two MSL matches played at the St George's Park have both been won by the side batting first. Since the wicket at this ground has tended to favor the bowlers more during the second period of play, the toss-winning skipper will probably elect to bat first in this match.
Read on for team previews, betting odds, betting tips and match prediction for Nelson Mandela Bay Giants vs Tshwane Spartans, Mzansi Super League 2018...
NB Bay Giants Team News & Playing 11
NMBG Team News
Nelson Mandela Bay Giants have received a big boost in their batting department with the inclusion of Jason Roy. The England opening batsman replaced Marco Marais and opened the innings with skipper JJ Smuts in the last game against Durban Heat. Apart from him, the team made two more changes in their side - Chris Morris and Aaron Phangiso were dropped for Ryan McLaren and Carmi le Roux. The Giants are expected to go into this match with an unchanged playing eleven.
NMBG Key Players
The opening pair of JJ Smuts and Jason Roy will hold the key for Nelson Mandela Bay Giants when it comes to batting. Smuts is the team's leading run-getter in the tournament with 182 runs which includes a couple of half-centuries. The skipper is coming off an unbeaten 62 against Durban Heat and one can expect another strong performance from him. Roy has a T20I strike of over 145 and he together with Ben Duckett are the others to watch out for in this batting line-up. With the ball, the Giants will look to the likes to Imran Tahir, Junior Dala and Ryan McLaren to push the Spartans on the back foot. Tahir may not have too many wickets to show for his efforts but he has been able to build pressure on the oppositions with his disciplined bowling. McLaren has taken four wickets in three matches and the pacer will be backed by his team to strike early with the new ball.
NMBG Recent Form
Nelson Mandela Bay Giants currently find themselves in the second place on the MSL 2018 leaderboard with four wins, two losses and as many washouts from their eight league matches. They will be heading into this match having won three of their previous four completed encounters. After securing a 48-run win over Paarl Rocks, the Giants suffered a massive 81-run loss to Jozi Stars before being forced to share points with Durban Heat in their last outing.
NB Bay Giants Predicted Playing 11
JJ Smuts (c), Jason Roy, Rudi Second (wk), Ben Duckett, Heino Kuhn, Christiaan Jonker, Ryan McLaren, Carmi le Roux, Junior Dala, Sisanda Magala, Imran Tahir
Tshwane Spartans Team News & Playing 11
TS Team News
Eoin Morgan is now available to play for Tshwane Spartans in the Mzansi Super League. The England limited-overs captain played his first game of the tournament last time against Paarl Rocks, replacing Sean Williams in the middle order. The team also brought in Robbie Frylinck and Shaun von Berg in place of Corbin Bosch and Andrew Birch. Theunis de Bruyn has been ruled out of the remainder of the MSL with a back injury and he has been replaced by batsman Andrea Agathangelou. The Spartans won their previous encounter and we expect them to retain the winning combination.
TS Key Players
While Gihahn Cloete and Dean Elgar will be the key men with the bat at the top, AB de Villiers and Eoin Morgan will be the best bets for Tshwane Spartans in the middle order. Cloete is among the tournament's top five batsmen and he has a couple of big scores to his name. With an average of 40.75, Elgar has been the team's next best batsman followed by de Villiers who is having a strike-rate of almost 166. Jeevan Mendis and Lutho Sipamla have been brilliant with the ball and the duo will pose the biggest threat to the Giants. They are currently the top two bowlers of the MSL 2018 with 15 and 12 wickets respectively. Both shared seven wickets between them in the reverse fixture and they are expected to trouble the Giants again at Port Elizabeth. Batsmen will also be watchful against leg-spinner Shaun von Berg who snared a three-wicket haul last time against Paarl Rocks.
TS Recent Form
Tshwane Spartans managed to keep themselves alive in the competition with a four-wicket win over Paarl Rocks in their last match. They have now played seven league games out of which they have won three and lost four and are currently occupying the fifth place in the MSL 2018 standings with 12 points. The Spartans have two wins from their last three matches. Their last defeat came against Cape Town Blitz at home by a margin of 60 runs.
Tshwane Spartans Predicted Playing 11
Gihahn Cloete (wk), Dean Elgar, Andrea Agathangelou, AB de Villiers (c), Eoin Morgan, Tony de Zorzi, Robbie Frylinck, Shaun von Berg, Jeevan Mendis, Lutho Sipamla, Rory Kleinveldt
Dec 08, 2018
22:30 IST / 17:00 GMT
St Georges Park - Gqeberha, South Africa
Leave Your Comment
We do our best to give you most accurate & useful match predictions and would love to hear from you. Let us know if we need to improve. Share your own predictions for the matches. Let's talk: