South Africa vs West Indies 1st ODI: Buffalo Park East London Pitch Report, Team Records at Buffalo Park

South Africa are all set to host West Indies in a three-match ODI series and the opening ODI game is scheduled to take place on 16 March, 2023 at the Buffalo Park in East London. Hosts South Africa will definitely be feeling very much high on confidence as they defeated West Indies during the last two Test matches at home and also registered an amazing 2-1 victory over England during their previous ODI series. On the other hand, the West Indies team ended up losing their most recent ODI series at the hands of New Zealand.

Buffalo Park East London Pitch Report

As seen over the years, there will be great amount of assistance for the fast bowlers at the Buffalo Park in East London for the South Africa vs West Indies 1st ODI match starting on Thursday. It will be a really challenging surface for the batters from both the teams especially due to the variable bounce present on the track. On the other hand, the pace bowlers from both South Africa and West Indies will surely enjoy bowling on this wicket especially with the new ball. There won’t be much of help for the spinners but they will come into a play a bit as the game progresses.

Another big challenge for the batsmen will be to counter the weather conditions as the rain gods are very much likely to play a spoilsport during this SA vs WI match. The overcast weather conditions will once again be helpful for the fast bowlers and things will be challenging for the batsmen while countering the swinging ball. Therefore, bowling first will be a better decision for the captain winning the toss.

SA vs WI: Team Records at Buffalo Park

1. In the 62 ODI matches played between these two teams, South Africa have had the upper hand with a total of 44 victories while West Indies have emerged victorious on 15 occasions.

2. Out of the 22 ODI games taken place at the Buffalo Park in East London, 10 matches have been won by teams batting first while the batting second teams have emerged victorious on as many as 12 occasions.

3. The average score batting first on this pitch is around 226, however, South Africa managed to score 369 for 6 as the highest score on this ground against Bangladesh in 2017.

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