The second half of a good looking double header of action in the Cricket World Cup on Wednesday comes from the capital as Bangladesh and New Zealand take on their second match of the tournament at The Oval.
Both teams won their first encounter of the competition and so for the first time in the event we are going to see a side reach four points and claim the early initiative in the league phase. The winner of this match will assume that honour so that is a nice incentive.
AllSportsBetting Podcast
Kev and Steve are back with their preview for this match. Kev discusses his three bets which you can see outlined below and Steve also has a pick for the match. Click play to hear the latest episode!
Bangladesh
I was all over the chances of Bangladesh heading into the tournament and they didn’t let me down in their opening contest against South Africa. We have seen a few edgy looking sides in the opening week of this competition but Bangladesh were certainly not one of them. They played with a freedom with the bat and a pleasant glow in the field. Make no mistake they are here to win but doing it with enjoyment makes them so easy to warm to.
A victory here would have them in a very good position to make the semi-final as they would have taken care of two sides who were expected to battle it out for the fourth spot in the knockout matches. If they are to win here they will need to box clever with the bat and be perfect in the field but we know that they have got that sort of performance in their arsenal.
New Zealand
The Kiwis will have been delighted with their opening match. They went into it without really being able to win given the frailties that Sri Lanka have. In those situations all there is to do is win well so that there are no comebacks and that is exactly what they did. They weren’t completely at their best with the ball I think it is fair to say but they were more than good enough and from that point on their batsmen were on easy street chasing a total that was never going to be enough to test them.
I think it is fair to expect New Zealand to be tested more in this match but they have a decent platform to build from. Sometimes when you win a match so convincingly, players don’t get a chance to show off their skills so they can get rusty later in the competition so if there is an ideal world here it would be the Kiwis winning and they lose a few wickets so their middle order get some time in the middle. That’s not to say they wouldn’t take a 10 wicket win of course.
Team News
Tom Latham confirmed in a press conference on the eve of the match that they will be unchanged for this outing barring a late unforeseen circumstance. That means Colin Munro remains as Martin Guptill’s opening partner.
Bangladesh have been nursing some injuries throughout the build up to the tournament but Tamim Iqbal, Mustafizur Rahman and Shakib-al-Hasan all seemed fine in the opening match so I’m expecting Bangladesh to be unchanged too.
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Betting
I’ll go with three bets here and I’m sure it will surprise nobody that one of them is Bangladesh on the handicap. I’m not surprised it is bigger than it was against South Africa but I do think they are being given a better start than they should be. The start they are getting is 5.5 wickets or 37.5 runs and both those look a touch on the large side. There’s isn’t a huge amount of bounce in The Oval wickets these days so Bangladesh should be comfortable enough with the bat and they can get what they need with the ball. New Zealand are a good side who walloped Sri Lanka first time out but I expect them to find things more difficult here. Once again I’ll take Bangladesh to defy the odds on this handicap.
One New Zealand man who I do expect to go well is Martin Guptill. I say that because he has a wonderful record against Bangladesh in 50 over cricket. He has an ODI average of 44.00 but that rises to 60.88 from his 11 digs against the Tigers. That includes three centuries and a 91. Two of those three centuries came in a series in New Zealand earlier in the year so he has good recent form against this opponent. He opened the tournament in style with 70 odd against Sri Lanka and has 50 on his only ODI on this ground. He is a gun fielder who will be placed in the key positions throughout the innings so a catch isn’t beyond him. All that makes me think he can go past 42.5pts.
There were a number of Bangladesh batsmen who impressed me on Sunday but if you think the New Zealand seamers could be at their most potent with the new ball it could pay to play Mahmudulah to be the top Bangladesh batsman. He has three centuries in ODI cricket and two of them have come against New Zealand, one of them on this side of the world when he blasted 102* in the Champions Trophy win over the Kiwis in Cardiff. He looked to be hitting the ball very sweetly in the opening match and if he is in early enough he is more than capable of top scoring.
Tips
WON – Back Bangladesh (+5.5wickets/37.5runs) to beat New Zealand for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Betway
Back M.Guptill’s Performance – Over 42.5pts for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Betway
Back them here:
Back Mahmudullah Top Bangladesh Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 10.00 with Coral
Back him here:
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