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Pace will be ace for Proteas against NZ: Ponting

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Ricky-Ponting

Auckland: Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting on Monday said South Africa should consider unleashing an all-out pace assault against New Zealand in the semifinal of the Cricket World Cup on Tuesday.

Ponting said the Proteas should leave out leg-spinner Imran Tahir, their leading wicket-taker for the tournament with 15 scalps, and back their seamers to exploit the seam-friendly conditions in Auckland.

“Spinner Imran Tahir got four wickets for South Africa last match, but they might be tempted to load up with seamers for that ground and I reckon that will be a good tactic,” Ponting was quoted as saying by Cricket Australia (CA).

“The Kiwis have been extraordinary, but apart from Australia no bowling attack has asked any serious questions of their batsmen,” he said.

“It seems to swing for most of the game at Eden Park so the bowlers on both sides are going to make it hard for the batsmen and that movement makes it hard to exploit the short boundaries.”

Proteas pacer Vernon Philander has been declared fit for the knockout clash after missing their quarter-final win over Sri Lanka and appearing in just three of the six group matches due to a hamstring issue.

The right-arm pacer looks set to rejoin Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel in the playing XI on Tuesday, while Kyle Abbott has done little wrong with nine wickets at an average of 14.44 from four matches.

New Zealand have displayed their strength at the top of the order with Brendon McCullum, Kane Williamson and Saturday’s double-centurion Martin Guptill, but Ponting suggests the competition co-hosts are vulnerable through the middle order.

“I wonder a bit about the Kiwi middle order if South Africa go hard at them with four seamers,” the 40-year-old said.

“I think Ross Taylor, Grant Elliott and those blokes might find the going hard if the squeeze is put on them.”

South Africa enter the clash full of confidence after finally breaking through for their first victory in a World Cup knockout clash.

Ponting, who played in the famous semi-final tie against South Africa in the 1999 edition of the tournament, suggested the Proteas have gone a long way to shaking the ‘chokers’ tag that has stuck with them for so long.

“The team AB de Villiers has at the moment has shaken off a lot of the failings of previous South African sides,” Ponting said.

He further added, “Blokes like AB and Faf (du Plessis) and Hashim (Amla) seem to lift when the pressure is on and have banished that suggestion they will choke at the critical moment.”

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Casino Days Reveal Internal Data on Most Popular Smartphones

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CasinoDays India

International online casino Casino Days has published a report sharing their internal data on what types and brands of devices are used to play on the platform by users from the South Asian region.

Such aggregate data analyses allow the operator to optimise their website for the brands and models of devices people are actually using.

The insights gained through the research also help Casino Days tailor their services based on the better understanding of their clients and their needs.

Desktops and Tablets Lose the Battle vs Mobile

The primary data samples analysed by Casino Days reveal that mobile connections dominate the market in South Asia and are responsible for a whopping 96.6% of gaming sessions, while computers and tablets have negligible shares of 2.9% and 0.5% respectively.

CasinoDays India

The authors of the study point out that historically, playing online casino was exclusively done on computers, and attribute thе major shift to mobile that has unfolded over time to the wide spread of cheaper smartphones and mobile data plans in South Asia.

“Some of the reasons behind this massive difference in device type are affordability, technical advantages, as well as cheaper and more obtainable internet plans for mobiles than those for computers,” the researchers comment.

Xiaomi and Vivo Outperform Samsung, Apple Way Down in Rankings

Chinese brands Xiaomi and Vivo were used by 21.9% and 20.79% of Casino Days players from South Asia respectively, and together with the positioned in third place with a 18.1% share South Korean brand Samsung dominate the market among real money gamers in the region.

 

CasinoDays India

Cupertino, California-based Apple is way down in seventh with a user share of just 2.29%, overshadowed by Chinese brands Realme (11.43%), OPPO (11.23%), and OnePlus (4.07%).

Huawei is at the very bottom of the chart with a tiny share just below the single percent mark, trailing behind mobile devices by Motorola, Google, and Infinix.

The data on actual phone usage provided by Casino Days, even though limited to the gaming parts of the population of South Asia, paints a different picture from global statistics on smartphone shipments by vendors.

Apple and Samsung have been sharing the worldwide lead for over a decade, while current regional leader Xiaomi secured their third position globally just a couple of years ago.

Striking Android Dominance among South Asian Real Money Gaming Communities

The shifted market share patterns of the world’s top smartphone brands in South Asia observed by the Casino Days research paper reveal a striking dominance of Android devices at the expense of iOS-powered phones.

On the global level, Android enjoys a comfortable lead with a sizable 68.79% share which grows to nearly 79% when we look at the whole continent of Asia. The data on South Asian real money gaming communities suggests that Android’s dominance grows even higher and is north of the 90% mark.

Among the major factors behind these figures, the authors of the study point to the relative affordability of and greater availability of Android devices in the region, especially when manufactured locally in countries like India and Vietnam.

“And, with influencers and tech reviews putting emphasis on Android devices, the choice of mobile phone brand and OS becomes easy; Android has a much wider range of products and caters to the Asian online casino market in ways that Apple can’t due to technical limitations,” the researchers add.

The far better integration achieved by Google Pay compared to its counterpart Apple Pay has also played a crucial role in shaping the existing smartphone market trends.

 

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