After opening up their international calendar with an ODI series against Zimbabwe last week, Australia move on to another 50 over series but this time against New Zealand which begins on Tuesday in Cairns.
These two met in the 2015 World Cup final and there is always a competitive edge when they meet. This opening match of three gives both teams the chance to go one up with two to play and be in control of proceedings.
Australia
Other than shaking off any rust and building a bit of attention and profile onto the rest of the summer, I’m not overly sure what Australia achieved in their ODI series with Zimbabwe last week, especially when you consider that they ended up losing the third match. That performance had more than an air of ‘what are we doing here?’ about it but form and performance levels can’t be turned on like a tap so it will be interesting to see what they have here.
The big concern for Australia is their batting. They put in two very substandard displays in that series against Zimbabwe and in the other one they weren’t even chasing three figures so couldn’t really be judged on it. The form of their captain is not good and it seems to be filtering its way through the batting. The positive is their bowlers look to be in good shape but they are going to face a much bigger test here than they did last week.
New Zealand
New Zealand will have no excuses on the activity front heading into this series. They have been very active over what you would call the UK summer. Their most recent outing was in West Indies where they came from a match down to win 2-1 after previously winning four straight ODIs in Ireland and Scotland. Where they could have an issue is that they will be playing in quicker and bouncier conditions here and having not had a warm up match they will need to hit the ground running in that regard.
New Zealand have been a real fixture in 50 over cricket in recent times. They have made the 50 over final in the last two World Cups and a large reason for that has been their bowling attack and we are likely to see them competitive on that front here. The one area where New Zealand are a little more hit or miss these days is with the bat but if they can be on song in that department in this series then there is a good chance the Kiwis will be more than competitive.
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Team News
Australia are picking from the same squad that they had during the Zimbabwe series with the question for them from that last game being whether Ashton Agar or Sean Abbott play. Conditions might dictate that.
New Zealand have named a strong squad and they too need to choose whether they play a second spinner in Michael Bracewell or the extra batter in Glenn Phillips. You would imagine that given Phillips can turn his arm over if needed he’ll get the nod.
Betting
While I admit I’m a little wary of the fact that New Zealand haven’t had a warm up match for this series, I do still think the price on them to win this opening match is appealing. I would be more concerned if New Zealand were coming in without a warm up and no recent cricket but they have been playing regularly and winning matches so I think that will make up for the lack of preparation. One thing we have seen over the last week or so is that Australia aren’t exactly firing on all cylinders.
I’ve kind of not been too critical of their batting displays against Zimbabwe because it can be hard to get up for a match that you are expected to win comfortably but losing that last game might present a few demons within the camp. There is no doubt the test the Australians face here is a much tougher one than Zimbabwe presented and if the hosts aren’t able to switch their form on then they are going to be vulnerable. New Zealand have a great bowling attack and plenty of batting depth and look value to open the series with a win.
Tips
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