The Test series between New Zealand and England gets underway in Christchurch on Thursday, or Wednesday evening if you are in the UK, with both sides looking to draw first blood in the three match battle.
The winner of this one will go one up with two to play and will be in control of the series from there while the losers will have an upward task to come out on top overall so this should be a really competitive starter to proceedings.
New Zealand
They never look like the best equipped team on paper but New Zealand continue to churn out results all over the world. There wasn’t too many who would have given them a prayer to go to India and win one match let alone secure a 3-0 series win and they did that without their best player in Kane Williamson too. That was an incredible achievement and if that doesn’t make them feel better about themselves going into a home series then nothing will.
Williamson is back for this match to further strengthen the Kiwi batting but the question in this series will be whether the home side have enough with the ball to stem the tide when it comes to putting pressure on the England batting. This attack is in a transitional phase which is about to need another notch adjusted to it with Tim Southee retiring after this series. If they can go well there is nothing to suggest New Zealand are going to be without a chance in this match.
England
Unlike a lot of times, England have been to New Zealand for a while and they have played a practice match so they will be adjusted to the conditions. I wouldn’t want to speculate how seriously they took that practice game but at least they have been out in the middle in this part of the world so they have given themselves the best chance to hit the ground running. If they are able to do that then they look good enough to be competitive at the very least.
You would imagine that England will find a way of taking 20 wickets on this ground because Ben Stokes is more than happy to go on the attack with the bat to put the required time back into the game, but England will need to ensure that on a ground where the pitch can really flatten out that they put a huge score on the board. They can fall back on the first game of their series in Pakistan last month to know that they are able to do that.
Special Offer
Open a new Sporting Index account and bet £10 on the series (min odds 1/2) to get £20 in free bets (2x£10 free bets) to use on any sports market! Click the image below to take advantage of this great offer! 18+ T&Cs apply. Gamble Responsibly.
Team News
The positive for New Zealand is that Kane Williamson is back for this match and he’ll slot in at number three once again. Tim Southee is expected to feature in a four-man seam attack as he begins his final series in Test cricket.
England have been forced into a change they probably wouldn’t have wanted to make with Jordan Cox ruled out of the series with an injury. Jacob Bethell will make his Test debut with Ollie Pope taking the gloves at number six. Chris Woakes has the nod.
Betting
There isn’t a huge amount of markets to attack for this opening Test match but of those that are around I’m happy to take the performance of Gus Atkinson. It sits at 106.5 but I fully expect him to be the leader of the attack here and he is the sort of bowler that should go well at Hagley because he can get the ball to nip away off the seam and when the pitch goes flat, like it does in the middle section of the match here, then he can bounce teams out too.
Atkinson has begin his Test career in fine fashion. Already in just eight matches he has 40 wickets and if he picks up his average of five wickets here we already have him at 100 points for the match but he also has a Test ton to his name and in the other 11 innings he has reached 20 or passed it on four occasions so there is every reason to think on a flat deck that he can contribute with the bat too. His performance line suddenly looks on the low side at 106.5 when you put all that together.
Tips
Back G.Atkinson’s Performance – Over 106.5pts for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
Be the first to comment on "New Zealand vs England – 1st Test Tips and Betting Preview"