Another 180 degree turnaround in performance of the two teams. So the script was written. But not before the match had gone the same way as the last ODI between these two till first 4 overs. The odds in f/o SA coming down from about 1.56 to 1.38, as a result of continuing brisk scoring by SA. And then the sudden turnaround, giving no chance to punters backing SA to control their losses or square up their positions. There must have been an overwhelming majority of them, with the impression of last ODI between the two sides fresh in their mind.
And thereafter Pak maintained its supremacy throughout. An example of how scripts were similar to last script/s up to a point and then suddenly turned around to leave punters high and dry, as mentioned in the book 'Inside the boundary Line.'
Would next ODI be another 180 degree swing? I hope not. But it is just a guess. Also may not be one-sided through and through. All this is besides the point.
Opportunity to clarify something more. Before SA innings ended prematurely at 191, when expected score was around 205, the odds were about 1.48 in f/o Pak. SA innings folding at 191, the odds at start of Pak batting should have been around 1.42, at best. But even after first boundary was hit early in the Pak innings, the odds were 1.52 or so in f/o Pak. This is what I call fixers' bluff, necessary once a while, so that one can never be sure of anything, as mentioned in the book. One could have expected/suspected some quick wickets or so for the match turning at least once in f/o SA, but nothing of the sort happened, at least odds hardly ever crossing 1.52 or 1.55 in f/o Pak during their innings.
Also it is not always that 180 degree swing takes place between two consecutive matches between two teams. So one can't be sure to expect so either.
As the book says, the fixers are the proverbial spiders and the punters, the proverbial spies, howsoever smart they could be.
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