The new era for England began with a win last week and they have an immediate chance to claim a series win on Friday when they head to Trent Bridge for the second Test against New Zealand, the World Test Championship holders.
New Zealand weren’t at the races in that opening match and they know if they are to head to Headingley with a chance to win the series then they have to come out on top at a venue which suits the home side.
England
The result is always the most important thing in cricket and England will have been delighted to get that in the first match in the Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes era. It is only natural though when a team hasn’t won for so long for the immediate focus to be on the performance level and see where things have improved from the previous regime, remained the same or worse still regressed in that time. There were certainly positives for England to build on which will encourage them.
The improvement definitely came in the field where in the main all the chances that came their way were taken. There was also a clear intensity in the field and aggressive field placings which the bowlers relished and responded to accordingly. The negative from the first game was that overall there appeared to be no improvement in their batting, although there was the odd bright spot around the match winning century from Joe Root. If they are going to become a force again in this format that batting just has to improve drastically.
New Zealand
Much was expected of the World Test Championship holders in the opening match but New Zealand clearly looked like a team that were short of a gallop. That wasn’t the biggest surprise really when you consider that rain had impacted the warm up action that those who were in the country for them could have while others were coming in cold from playing in the Indian Premier League. Even nowhere near their best there was still a chance for the Kiwis to win that first game.
We should expect a much better version of New Zealand in this match, especially with the ball which is where they were a little on the light side. The injury to Colin de Grandhomme didn’t really help them it has to be said. However, for all they should come on with the ball, New Zealand need a lot more than they showed with the bat in that opening match. You just worry that too many key players are lacking any sort of form for comfort.
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Team News
England have already taken the chance to name their team the day before the match and have confirmed that they will be unchanged from the one which started at Lord’s. There was a doubt over Jack Leach after he left the first game with concussion but he has recovered to take his place in the team.
New Zealand announced on the eve of the match that their captain Kane Williamson would miss the contest due to testing positive for Covid-19. Henry Nicholls will come in for Colin de Grandhomme while Hamish Rutherford might well return for Williamson. Matt Henry is knocking on the door if New Zealand don’t play a spinner.
Betting
I’ll go with a couple of bets over the course of this match with the first of them coming in the form of the player performance of Jimmy Anderson, where the line looks incredibly low at 100.5 when you consider the career he has had at Trent Bridge. 68 of his 646 wickets have come in just 11 matches on this ground and that includes seven five wicket hauls. Obviously if he adds an eighth to that total here we would need one more point for the line to be covered. If his bowling record here isn’t enough then he also has his career best batting figures here too when he clubbed 81 against India eight years ago. He has also scored 28 here in the past so Trent Bridge brings out the best in Anderson. He scored 127 points at Lord’s and on a ground he performs even better on I expect the veteran to cover once again.
England might have shown improvement at Lord’s but there wasn’t a great deal of it in the batting department and if Joe Root doesn’t score big you wonder if England can let alone will. That might lead to someone down the order coming up trumps with the top bat in the first innings. Ben Foakes could be that man. You need a decent technique at Trent Bridge because the ball seams and swings and Foakes has that as he showed in the second innings at Lord’s. I think that innings will have given him a lot of confidence moving into this game. He knows he can tame this attack and he knows he can perform at this level. At 16/1 I’ll pay to see if Foakes can top score for the home side in the first innings.
Tips
Back J.Anderson’s Performance – Over 100.5pts for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Betfair
Back B.Foakes Top England 1st Inns Batter for a 1/10 stake at 17.00 with Coral
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