New Zealand’s final leg of their international summer is to host Bangladesh for a tour which includes ODIs and Test matches and they get underway on Wednesday. Both sides will be using the three match series as preparation for the World Cup which should ensure some decent action.
This series should be perfect for Bangladesh as the conditions here are more suited to what they will see in England later in the year while New Zealand should have the ideal opportunity to pick up more morale boosting wins.
Schedule
1st ODI: Feb 13 at Napier
2nd ODI: Feb 16 at Christchurch
3rd ODI: Feb 20 at Dunedin
New Zealand
The Kiwis go into this series off the back of a bit of a mauling by India over the last few weeks and they will need to put that behind them and get back to doing what they do best in order to come out on top in these three matches. While there is a slight easing of the quality in opposition here, it was to spin that New Zealand struggled against India and they could face plenty of that in this series.
New Zealand need to bat better in this series. I say that not just to win this series but there are going to be a lot of flat pitches in England later in the year and you won’t win many matches in the first phase of that tournament without scoring 300 or more. New Zealand have a lot of bowling options which will serve them well.
Bangladesh
We’ll get a good idea of how serious Bangladesh are as challengers in the World Cup. They made the quarter finals of the last one in this part of the world and more recently they were finalists in the Asia Cup so they should not be taken lightly no matter where they are playing. Bangladesh have won their last three bilateral ODI series either side of the Asia Cup so they can definitely play.
Although it has been a couple of months since they last played an ODI, their players arrive here off the back of the Bangladesh Premier League so they should be nicely oiled and ready to rumble. They also had a warm up match to adjust to the different conditions, which highlights how seriously they are looking at things here.
Head to Head
These two have competed in seven previous ODI series with New Zealand having the edge in them. They have five wins to their name to a couple of Bangladesh successes. Both of Bangladesh’s wins came in their own nation. New Zealand have won all three series which these two sides have played in this area of the world.
To be fair to Bangladesh, although they are 5-2 down in the series outcomes, they are only 14-8 behind in the match results so it isn’t like they are regularly wiped out. History suggests that they are up against it here but I think it will be foolish to write them off completely.
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Betting
I’m not a massive fan of steaming into these three match series, especially when there is a fair chance of one side leading 2-0 and then not playing a full team in the final match, or rotating as we go along, so I’m not going to go ballistic but there is one bet that I like the look of for the series.
Ross Taylor has been in insane ODI form for a while now and there has been no signs recently that he is about to stop now. At 5/2 I think he is a good thing in this series. Colin Munro has been rested for the first two ODIs and Martin Guptill is coming back from injury so it could be that Kane Williamson is the only danger. He doesn’t look in the greatest touch so I’m happy to take Taylor here.
Tips
Back R.Taylor Top New Zealand Series Batsman for a 2/10 stake at 3.50 with Betfair
Back him here:
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