Bangladesh shocked the cricket world when they claimed a huge surprise win in the first Test against New Zealand in Mount Maunganui last week and now they head to Christchurch looking to seal a famous series win.
A draw in this match will be enough for Bangladesh to claim the series spoils but they will expect a backlash from New Zealand, who will be desperate to avoid losing the series. They have to win this match to take a draw.
New Zealand
Clearly New Zealand weren’t at their best in the opening match but I’m not convinced they took Bangladesh too lightly, which will be something of a concern. They didn’t come out of the blocks very fast which is a little unlike them and never really got control of the match from there. This is a bit of a transitional side that New Zealand have out at the minute but they would have expected to do a lot better than they did in that first game.
They are going to have to bat better if they are going to win this match. Bangladesh bowled well against them but the way they surrendered on what was the final morning of the match was worrying. I don’t think we can be too harsh on the New Zealand bowlers because the wicket was pretty flat when they were bowling on it but I think it is fair to assume they can do better and will need to if they are to win this match.
Bangladesh
I think it is fair to say we witnessed the best Bangladesh overseas Test performance in the first game of the series. They did everything they wanted to in that first game. They shackled New Zealand early in the match and never really let them get away from them and when they batted they blunted the new ball and played smart cricket and built the sort of advantage that was always going to be daunting. Then when their chance came along they jumped all over it.
The Bangladesh seamers got a lot of plaudits for their display in that opening match and rightly so, but the way they batted in alien conditions was very encouraging. They will need to bat as well if not better to win here but there wasn’t any suggestion that they were over performing in that first game. If they can put another decent first innings showing up and force New Zealand to make the running they might find chances easier to come by.
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Team News
The plan was initially to rest Trent Boult or Tim Southee for this second match but with New Zealand 1-0 down in the series that idea is likely to be shelved and Matt Henry is going to need to wait for his return. Kane Williamson remains out injured. This is Ross Taylor’s final international match.
Bangladesh will be forced into a change because Mahmudul Hasan Joy has been ruled out with the hand injury he sustained in the opening match. That could see the exciting Mohammad Naim coming into an otherwise unchanged side.
Betting
I’ll go with the one bet in this second Test. You would think this is a match New Zealand will show their class in but I still think Bangladesh can have their moments and I would imagine Liton Das will be a big player for them. There isn’t a New Zealand Test pitch that doesn’t start off with plenty of green grass on it so the Kiwi outside edge will be in play early as it was in the first game when Das picked up four catches.
He is a perfectly adequate batter at this level though. We’ve seen him score very well in the 50 over format and he showed signs of doing it against the red ball with a fine 86 in the only innings he had in the first Test. He will probably get two innings with the bat here and I would imagine he’ll take some catches during the game even if it isn’t the four he took in that opener. I think all that combined can see him go beyond 78.5pts for this performance.
Tips
WON – Back L.Das’ Performance – Over 78.5pts for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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