Wins rarely come more emphatic than New Zealand’s one in the opening ODI against Australia on Wednesday and that win has given the Kiwis the chance to seal the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy with a match to spare when the two sides meet for the second time in Wellington on Saturday.
Things could barely have gone any better for New Zealand in Auckland. They got off to a flying start thanks to a Brendon McCullum onslaught and then their middle order carried them past 300 before their seamers ripped the heart out of the Australians which led to the tourists being skittled inside 25 overs.
It is hard to believe that New Zealand can play that well again but it would be extremely harsh for the same XI not to get the opportunity here unless they pick up a last minute injury. Ish Sodhi is waiting for a game but his wait may be extended at least to Hamilton.
Australia need a huge turnaround from their performance in Auckland but if one thing is going to help with that it could be the arrival of coach Darren Lehmann. Lehmann was forced to miss the opening match of the series while he recovered from Deep Vein Thrombosis but having been given the all clear to fly he has joined up with his squad for this match.
I would have imagined the Aussies would have made changes for this match anyway but they were forced into one when James Faulkner left the tour with an injury. It has been confirmed that Adam Zampa will come in for him while Usman Khawaja replaces Shaun Marsh at the top of the order.
We’re at the Westpac Stadium for this second match, the ground more affectionately known as the ‘Cake Tin’. This will be the 28th ODI on this ground. Some of the previous 27 were played in the World Cup but New Zealand have still featured in 25 games here. They’ve a good record too with a 16-7 winning record from the completed games. Australia are 2-2 here.
With this being another ground primarily used and designed for rugby we have another drop in pitch but the pitch has played pretty well in recent times so I’m expecting another high scoring game here assuming Australia aren’t skittled again.
Once again this ground is pretty hard to defend so I don’t want to go wading in on the match result before knowing the outcome of the toss. If I was to back anyone it would be New Zealand but I’m effectively on them to win this match with my series outright punt anyway so I don’t need to go in again especially with the unknown toss result.
I took the sixes with a lot of confidence in Auckland and given the last time there was an ODI here there were 31 sixes in it I should probably be taking them again but there is the odd boundary on this ground which can be lengthy to cow corner and the like which puts me off slightly.
Boundaries are still my main focus for this match though but rather than the sixes I will take the boundaries themselves. On the face of it a 66.5 line looks huge but we had 60 in Auckland when one side only batted 25 overs so the scope for it to be covered is immediately there.
That is even more the case when you think Williamson, Warner, Smith and Maxwell hit just five boundaries between them in the first game – an event unlikely to be repeated here.
With the likes of Usman Khawaja at the top of the order for Australia and Kane Williamson for New Zealand potentially batting for a long period of time I think I prefer the boundaries here rather than the sixes. The boundaries are all in reach for anyone along the carpet so I expect this line to be covered.
Back Over 66.5 boundaries for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with William Hill
