England begin a big year of Test cricket on Thursday when they head to New Zealand for the first of two matches which starts an Ashes year which are always huge periods for them. Mount Maunganui plays host to the opening match which is a day-night one.
These two sides met in England last summer when England ran out 3-0 winners as the much maligned ‘Bazball’ got up and running. The tourists will be out to show their improvement while the hosts will want to prove they have something about them.
New Zealand
This will be the first home Test that New Zealand have played this summer and whenever England are in town it is usually a big deal. That won’t change here, in fact it might be even more of a big thing because the opposing coach is from New Zealand so there will be an element of wanting to put one over him I’m sure. The big picture is that a win here will ensure that another home series will come and go without New Zealand being beaten.
This will be the first Test that Tim Southee will captain the Kiwis in at home so that is a big thing for him. Usually we would be guaranteed a top notch bowling attack for New Zealand in these sorts of series but there is a weaker look to the one they will field here due to injuries in unavailable players. That will put pressure on a batting unit, which to be fair to it seems to always punch above its weight when you consider a potential lack of top class depth.
England
That series win over New Zealand certainly wasn’t a fluke for England. They have only lost one Test match since Ben Stokes took over prior to that series and even that didn’t matter in the overall score in the series against South Africa. Most recently England have been to Pakistan and continued to rewrite the way they are going to play their Test cricket. It comes with risk, it comes with ridicule from others but as yet no opposing team has found a way of countering it.
England will go out and be aggressive in everything they do here. They have made a mantra of not doing draws and you wouldn’t think anything is going to change at this stage. England will go hard with the bat regardless of what the outcome with it is. That is designed to put the opposition under pressure and put time in the game for them to get 20 wickets, time which might now be needed in these conditions but they will get it anyway.
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Team News
New Zealand will be without Trent Boult for this match as he has chosen to play franchise cricket and therefore isn’t available for selection. Kyle Jamieson has also been ruled out of the match. Jacob Duffy is pushing for a starting spot.
England have already named their XI for the opening match with Ollie Robinson getting the third seamer spot alongside Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad. Ben Duckett remains in as an opener and Harry Brook stays in the middle order.
Betting
Unfortunately with the weather the way it has been in this part of the world in recent days, with a cyclone going through the area but thankfully not doing much damage to the cricket ground, markets have been a little on the slow side to be priced up and in truth nobody knows how the conditions will play but experience tells us that a pitch that looks green in New Zealand doesn’t necessarily mean the ball will jag all over the place, and actually the pitches become very good to bat on the longer the game goes on.
I suspect that could be the case here, especially if drier and hotter conditions hit this part of New Zealand and so while I wouldn’t usually take a player performance bet of a batter, I am happy to get on the one for Harry Brook at just 72.5. He covered that in one innings in the warm up match and is a seriously good talent. He’ll bat in the middle order for England which in theory will see him against an older ball. I don’t think this Kiwi bowling unit is anything like as strong as the ones England have faced in the past and over two knocks I expect the Yorkshire star to reach 73 runs. He might not even need to do that if a catch or two comes his way. I like the over.
Tips
Back H.Brook’s Performance – Over 72.5pts for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Betfair
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