The second half of the Saturday double header at the Cricket World Cup suddenly looks a very big one after the English demise on Friday when New Zealand face the West Indies in a massive game at Old Trafford.
New Zealand are nicely locked in the top four at present and a win here would as good as secure their semi-final spot. With Australia and England still to come though they need that safety net. West Indies have Afghanistan and Sri Lanka on the horizon so a win here could yet see them threaten a semi-final berth.
AllSportsBetting Podcast
Kev and Steve are back to react to England’s surprise defeat on Friday as well as preview a juicy looking clash between West Indies and New Zealand on Saturday where both men have bets, To hear what they are and the boys explain them click play on the video below.
West Indies
What an opportunity there is at the feet of the West Indies in this match. A win here and they are suddenly right back in the mix to make it through to the top four, which is what most people expected them to achieve with the start to the tournament that they made. They haven’t been able to hit those heights for a while though and the task in hand is to do just that here. If they can, we’ve already seen how dangerous they can be.
We haven’t really seen this powerful West Indies batting line up fire as a collective yet, but they did do that against New Zealand in a warm up match prior to the tournament which should give them the confidence they need heading into this one. If they can fire with the bat on a good pitch to bat on, this track isn’t likely to lack pace and bounce s they will be right in the game.
New Zealand
Once again I don’t think we can say New Zealand were convincing in getting the job done against South Africa last time out but they did win and that was the main thing. One of the features of this tournament so far has been star players stepping up and taking responsibility and that is exactly what the Kiwi captain Kane Williamson did in that run chase against the Proteas. He could do with a little more support from his batsmen.
One area where there is no improvement needed in the New Zealand camp is with the ball. South Africa are the only side of the four they have bowled at that they have not bowled out but even then they restricted them to less than five-an-over. Critics would suggest the three teams they bowled out are among the worst batting line ups in the competition but that isn’t really their problem to be fair.
Team News
West Indies are believed to have a major doubt over the fitness of Andre Russell. He hasn’t been right throughout the tournament but with the chance presented to them I just wonder if they will go with him again. Ashley Nurse or Carlos Brathwaite would be obvious replacements if not.
New Zealand haven’t changed a thing in their set up so far and given that they are one of only two sides still unbeaten in the tournament there is probably no need for switching anything up just yet barring an undefined illness or injury.
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Betting
That warm up match between these two was extremely high scoring and that is what I think this one will be on an Old Trafford wicket an absolute dream to bat on. The outfield is quick and the boundaries attainable so I’m expecting the ropes to be peppered here. There is unlikely to be a lot of joy for the bowlers in terms of movement off the pitch so they are going to have to work hard to keep the scores down. The boundary line for this one is only 59.5 which looks low to me. So far we’ve had 55 in a game which was washed out 10 overs short and 70 in a match involving Afghanistan. I like the over here.
I also like the over in the performance line of West Indies captain Jason Holder. It is 44.5 which looks very low given his performances in the tournament thus far. He has a three wicket haul against Pakistan to his name and 51 against Australia and an average of the two will be enough here. He belted 72 from just 58 balls for Northamptonshire on this ground earlier in the season and has a decent enough record against New Zealand. With the pace and bounce he generates I expect Holder to be a player with the ball and he can top off any necessary runs with the bat.
Nicholas Pooran is another one who is having a good tournament and he has a low looking run line at just 23.5. He has looked in very good touch so far in this World Cup with scores of 34*, 40, 63 and 25 in the four innings he has had. That means he has covered this line every time he has got to the crease. He’ll be batting in the middle order when the lesser bowlers should be bowling so all things being equal I’m expecting 24 runs from him here.
Finally I’ll have a small bet on Colin de Grandhomme to top score for New Zealand. Kane Williamson aside there isn’t really a New Zealand batsman firing on all cylinders and it wouldn’t be the first time in this tournament that West Indies will shell out a top order if that is what they do. If it is then it will be left for someone down the order to do the scoring. That is what we saw earlier in the event when Wahab Riaz going close and Nathan Coulter-Nile top scoring against West Indies. De Grandhomme is a better batsman than both those two so he’s a big price at 22/1.
Tips
WON – Back Over 59.5 boundaries for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with William Hill
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Back J.Holder’s Performance – Over 44.5pts for a 4/10 stake at 1.85 with 888sport
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Back N.Pooran – Over 23.5 runs for a 4/10 stake at 1.85 with BetVictor
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Back C.de Grandhomme Top New Zealand Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 23.00 with Betfair
Back him here:
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