South Africa v England third Test betting preview and free tips

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2pts Vernon Philander top South Africa first innings bowler at 5/2

2pts Ollie Pope top England first innings runscorer at 11/2

2pts Quinton de Kock top South Africa first innings runscorer at 4/1

Three matches into what has been a thoroughly absorbing Test series between South Africa and England and batting first has once again proven to been the road to the success.

The fact Joe Root has called correctly on each occasion so far has certainly helped his side's cause but that shouldn't detract from what has been an excellent tour so far, one which has seen the tourists overcome a sickness bug that ripped through the camp upon arrival in South Africa before bouncing back from a bruising first Test defeat at Centurion.

Plenty of credit should be given to way Root and vice-captain Ben Stokes have galvanised the whole squad since that early setback and the way the likes of youngsters Ollie Pope, Dom Sibley, Zak Crawley and Sam Curran have performed offers hope of a bright future.

With South Africa seemingly there to be taken, expect England to circle for the kill in Johannesburg where conditions should bring the swing and seam bowlers into the game again after a slow surface in Port Elizabeth from which only Mark Wood was able to extract much life.

With Kagiso Rabada once again finding himself in hot water with the ICC and picking up a ban for the series finale, the hosts will be hopeful that Johannesburg offers as much encouragement to the seamers as when South Africa overpowered Pakistan on this ground a year ago.

Should that be the case, Vernon Philander could once again prove the key weapon with the ball for home skipper Faf du Plessis on the back of a quiet couple of matches following his first innings 4-16 at Centurion that knocked the stuffing out of England's batting line-up.

Philander has taken 39 wickets at a remarkable average of 15.69 in seven Tests in Johannesburg and on what will be his last appearance in South African colours before international retirement, expect him to be desperate to go out with a bang.

Furthermore, with the absence of Rabada only increasing the responsibility on his shoulders, he looks a bet to claim top South Africa first innings bowler honours at 5/2.

If batting first has been the template for success in this series, batting in the middle order has also offered plenty of opportunities with Stokes, Pope and Quinton de Kock three of the leading five runscorers in the series so far.

Pope might well be top of the tree had he not been forced to miss the series opener due to sickness but he has top scored in the first innings for England in second and third Tests and once again, he just earns the value call over Stokes, who continues to get better and better at number five but is a point and a half shorter.

It was only a couple of years that Stokes, Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali were responsible for a powerful England middle order that was termed the 'engine room' owing to the amount of times they had produced aggressive rearguards following early casualties to the top of the order.

Bairstow and Ali have gone, for now, but on his second taste of international cricket, Pope looks ready to make the number six spot his own before inevitable calls for him to move up the order.

Number three looks the obvious place for him long term but just as the great Ricky Ponting did when serving his apprenticeship for Australia, number six looks ideal for now and I see no reason why Pope can't add to first-innings scores of 61* and 132 in the series so far.

If Port Elizabeth's slow surface offered the top order of both teams more hope of runs, Johannesburg should be a tougher test altogether against the new ball and as such, I'm keen to keep South Africa's middle-order maverick, de Kock, on side for the second match running.

The fearless left-hander did this column a big favour with a typically fluent 63 in the first innings in Port Elizabeth, taking his series tally to 265 runs at an average of 44.16, and with South Africa's top four looking increasingly shaky, I won't be looking elsewhere this week.

Posted at 0720 GMT on 21/01/20.

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