The Test cricket is not done for the winter as New Zealand and Bangladesh embark on their series on Thursday, or late Wednesday evening for those of us who are in the UK. The first match of the three will see the sides doing battle at Seddon Park in Hamilton.
Bangladesh were outclassed in the ODIs recently, so they will be looking to put up more of a challenge in the longer format of the game. Whoever wins this match will seize immediate control of the series.
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New Zealand
Given their results in recent times, there is a serious case to be made for New Zealand being the best side in the world in this format of the game. The reason that they are not ranked there is because they don’t play enough of it, but when they do don the whites and get the red balls out they are pretty tough to beat, regardless of the conditions.
A very good, long and deep batting line up is primarily the reason for that. You rarely see them collapse and when they do have a wobble at the top of the innings they have good players lower down to rescue them, and then they have a class and a quality with the ball that contains plenty of variety which does plenty of damage as well.
Bangladesh
While Bangladesh are relatively new to the Test scene still, they are improving. They might not be getting the results to show that but whenever they play there are always some eye catching individual performances, and if they can piece those all together regularly enough there is a good side in the making in that part of the world.
The acid test for them here will be how they control things with the ball. I actually think they have enough about them with the bat, they made 550+ in New Zealand two years ago, so we know they can bat on good pitches, but they might struggle to get wickets, which will pile the pressure on their batting. Even if they don’t win here, if they can lay their stall out to be competitive it will do them no harm.
Team News
New Zealand have already confirmed their side for this match and Todd Astle comes in to replace Ajaz Patel in the only change to the side which faced Sri Lanka in their last Test match. There is no place in the team for Matt Henry.
Bangladesh will be without their big guns of Shakib al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim so Mahmudullah will captain the side. It looks like Khaled Ahmed and Abu Jayed will be the seamers alongside Mustafizur Rahman.
Seddon Park
There have been 24 matches on this picturesque ground and New Zealand have a decent enough record here with 11 wins and six defeats. Seven of those matches have been drawn so the ground has a near 33% draw ratio. Bangladesh have played here twice in the past and have lost both those games.
The pitch here often starts off favouring the bowlers but then when it flattens out it is a great wicket to bat on so the second and third innings of the match are often the highest. There is nothing to suggest that this match will be any different in that regard either.
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Betting
I’m going to see how Bangladesh stand up and be counted in this series before I get heavily stuck into it but I will go with one bet for the match. If Bangladesh show their worth early on in the match then there could be value in the draw here at some point but they would need to show their ability with the bat for me to nibble on that.
One man who I expect to show their ability with the bat on this ground is Ross Taylor. Five of his 17 Test match centuries have come on this wicket and he looks to be in as good a range of form as he has ever been in, especially in ODIs where his numbers are incredible. Two of his last three innings on this ground have been undefeated tons so his performance line of 91.5 looks a touch on the low side. He’ll add to his points total with catches at slip at some point but with the form he’s shown in all formats in recent months he should cover this with the bat.
Tips
Back R.Taylor’s Performance – Over 91.5pts for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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