The opening match of the Trans-Tasman Tri Series sees the two close rivals doing battle in Sydney when Australia take on New Zealand. England come into the reckoning later in the tournament but for now these two sides will battle it out for the early lead in the table.
This is one of two matches in the tournament that Australia will play at home and they will look to take advantage of their own conditions. New Zealand have a couple of home matches to come and if they can pick up a bonus win or two before they get back home that would see them in a good position.
Australia
I think it is fair to say that Australia haven’t always taken this format of the game seriously but they certainly look to be pretty strong on this series. I say that because they have picked a lot of form horses in the Big Bash League mixed in with some seasoned international campaigners but also they have recruited Ricky Ponting as assistant coach. That feels a bigger decision than normal.
The flip side of picking Big Bash specialists is that their attack does look a little on the light side at this level and if it suddenly starts getting carted there isn’t an experienced campaigner to take some of the work load. That could become irrelevant if their big hitting batting line up explode into life though.
New Zealand
I will be interested to see the mentality of the New Zealand side in this match. Quite often they seem to come across as thinking they are the small relation in this rivalry, which of course overall they probably are, but not necessarily in this format. In this format they have been playing good cricket but back-to-back defeats to Pakistan may have dented confidence.
If we see New Zealand at their absolute best here then they will have every chance. There is a concern about the amount of all-rounders they employ in their middle order but the flip side of that is they have a number of bowling options. We’ve seen in the past how they put a lot of thinking into their approach to matches and that can never be a bad thing.
Team News
Depending on where you click and what you read you could have about 20 different starting XIs for Australia in this match. Cricket Australia have announced that Travis Head, D’Arcy Short and Alex Carey will be released for the Big Bash League final. How many of them play remains to be seen. Aaron Finch has been ruled out.
New Zealand are hoping to have Colin Munro back at the top of their order after he was forced to sit out the final match against Pakistan through injury. Kane Williamson opened the batting in his absence and will do so again if needed.
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Betting
I think New Zealand are overpriced in this match. Australia have never once convinced me in this format of the game and while it is right for the sake of the competition that the stars of the Big Bash are rewarded it leaves them very vulnerable at this level especially if the likes of Dave Warner, Glenn Maxwell and Chris Lynn don’t fire for whatever reason.
New Zealand had a couple of setbacks against Pakistan last month but generally they are a very good team in this format of the game. They all know their roles and perform them well, much like the Perth Scorchers if we are using a Big Bash analogy on them. They have power with the bat as well as skill, they have top class seam bowlers and a plethora of spin and pace off options. This time last year Sri Lanka turned up and beat a team of Big Bash all-stars and New Zealand are great value to follow that lead.
Tips
Back New Zealand to beat Australia for a 4/10 stake at 2.50 with Unibet
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