New Zealand conclude their international summer on Thursday when they host Bangladesh in the third and final T20 match of the series. New Zealand have already won the series and will be looking to end their summer on a high.
This match offers up one last chance for Bangladesh to get something out of their trip but it also gives both sides the chance to continue their preparations for the World T20 which is starting to loom on the horizon.
New Zealand
Although it was done in controversial manner, New Zealand secured the series in a rain–affected second match. The win was marred by Bangladesh not knowing what they were chasing but the way New Zealand have dominated proceedings you would have to think that they may have struggled to get to their target whether they knew it from the off or not. The fallout from that match might only have fuelled New Zealand to put the record straight here.
New Zealand have been comprehensive with the bat in both this series and indeed the ODIs which preceded it. That wasn’t as much the case in that second T20 but their innings was regularly halted by the rain. Even then you got the feeling that had the match gone to a full conclusion they would have had a big enough score to come out on top. The real positive was that even in the damp conditions the New Zealand attack were able to restrict Bangladesh.
Bangladesh
There is no doubt that Bangladesh were unfortunate in that second game. It is ridiculous that in this day and age a team can go onto the field not knowing that they were chasing, especially in an innings when rain threatened to get involved throughout. That said though, they had probably let New Zealand get away from them with the bat and while we’ll never know what could have been, on what we’ve seen in this series and tour so far chasing such a total down would have been unlikely.
If Bangladesh are to end the tour with a win then they are going to need their bowlers to be bang on it. If they can get stuck into the New Zealand top order and make them think about rebuilding the innings even for 3-4 overs then on a tiny ground such as this it can be the difference. There is nothing to lose for their batsmen from here on in so they may as well pin their ears back and let the big shots fly and see where it gets them.
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Team News
Todd Astle is the only player in the New Zealand squad who hasn’t featured yet so it makes sense to give him an outing with the series won. They won’t look to play two spinners at Eden Park though so Ish Sodhi could sit this final game out.
Bangladesh will once again hope that Mushfiqur Rahim and Mustafizur Rahman are fit to take their place in the side. If they are not available to them then it would be likely that Bangladesh will go in with the same side as the second game.
Betting
As I would with most matches that take place at Eden Park, I’m looking at the sixes in this match. The worry earlier in the series was that Bangladesh wouldn’t have the ability to get this New Zealand attack away but that was shown not to be the case, particularly in the most recent contest in Napier so I’m pretty confident we are going to see both sides clear the ropes here. It doesn’t take much to clear the ropes straight down the ground here.
The sixes line is 14.5 which I guess is based on the perception that Bangladesh won’t hit many sixes but they actually hit four in Napier and there were a couple of players who earlier in the series showed that they can hit a big ball who didn’t hit a six in that second game. The other issue is Bangladesh batting first and not putting up much of a score but if New Zealand are chasing a tiny total they look to get after the bowling so that is less of an issue for me. I’m happy to be on the over.
Tips
WON – Back Over 14.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with William Hill
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