The first day-night match in New Zealand takes place this week when the first Test between New Zealand and England begins in the early hours of Thursday morning, UK time. This is only a two Test series so every session of this match will be crucial which should ensure a competitive match.
If the recent ODI series is anything to go by then we can expect a really competitive couple of matches beginning with the floodlit match at Eden Park. Whoever wins this match will be assured of at least a share of the series.
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New Zealand
For much of the summer New Zealand have been a very competitive outfit regardless of the format they have been playing and it will be interesting to see if they have another couple of big performances in them. They will be swimming against the tide of history here as they have a wretched record against England.
That said in their own conditions they are generally pretty good with their quality bowling attack leading the way but they do have a couple of issues. A lack of genuine batting depth is one issue and the opening pairing is not always perfect so there is a lot of pressure on the gun two in the middle order to fire for them.
England
New Zealand are not the only side with issues. England have plenty of them although they will hope that the return of Ben Stokes will even out some of those problems. A partner for Alastair Cook remains an issue though as does the number three position but England are often bailed out by their extreme batting depth.
The big problem England have is their record on the road in recent times where to be fair they have been dreadful. If they are going to be the side Joe Root wants them to be then they are going to have to sort that out and here would be a good place to start. That won’t be easy if they continue to find themselves 100/5 all the time.
Team News
Kane Williamson has confirmed his starting XI for this match and Todd Astle is the man who comes in for the injured Mitchell Santner. Colin de Grandhomme plays so there is no Matt Henry for the home side.
Joe Root has not named his side officially yet but Ben Stokes will return and he is expected to bowl despite not bowling in the warm up matches. That is likely to ensure James Vince remains at three which leaves no place for Liam Livingstone.
Eden Park
This will be the 50th Test match to be held at Eden Park. This will be the first day-night match however. Of the 49 matches that have been here already New Zealand’s record is mixed. They have 10 wins and 15 defeats with 24 draws. England have four wins and a defeat as well as 11 draws from the 16 matches they’ve played here.
The curator has suggested he has left a little more grass on this pitch to keep the pink ball hard for longer I would imagine but this has always been known as a bowlers graveyard. I don’t expect any different here despite the floodlights and pink ball.
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Betting
It must be said that there is some rain forecast for most days in the match and it remains to be seen what sort of delays will occur from them so I’m not going to be going too mad. I’m already on the draw as part of an outright bet so I don’t really need to go in again on the match betting front. I will take one bet though.
That is the player performance of Jonny Bairstow where the line looks a little on the low side at 100.5. I say that because he finished the recent one day series with back to back centuries and while this is a different ball game he is arguably a better Test batsman than he is a one day one. With the grass on the pitch I’m expecting a few wickets to go caught behind which would assist Bairstow. He could easily cover this line with the bat but a combination of runs and catches should see him safely over the line.
Tips
Back J.Bairstow’s Performance – Over 100.5pts for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Betfair
Back him here:
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