New Zealand and Pakistan played out an entertaining if a little uncompetitive T20 series over the last week and now the two sides ditch the coloured clothing and don the whites, swapping the white ball for the red one for the first of two Test matches which begins at Mount Maunganui on Boxing Day.
These two matches go towards the World Test Championship which New Zealand have more than one eye on winning next summer while Pakistan will be looking to start an extended spell of red ball action themselves.
New Zealand
New Zealand go into this series off the back of a very easy series win over the West Indies to get their red ball summer underway. That took them to the top of the ICC rankings and deservedly so because they are a team that ticks all boxes not just at home but on their travels too. At home though they are very tough to beat and although West Indies were never going to offer up much of a challenge, it is very hard to outplay this New Zealand side for five days.
One of the reasons why New Zealand are so good in this format of the game is they are not flashy or hogging the limelight. They are a well drilled side who all know their roles and they perform them to the best of their ability. They don’t mind if a win comes in three days or five which is a bit of an old school way of playing this format of the game but it provides a consistency and a performance that is very hard to get the better of.
Pakistan
This will be the first time Pakistan will have played the longest format of the game since then were in England in the summer. We can’t really take too much out of that series because two of the three matches were heavily rain affected. The one which wasn’t was a match that Pakistan should probably have won having had England in a lot of trouble in their run chase, however they were unable to finish the job off.
That brought about a captaincy change with Babar Azam now the man to lead Pakistan forward but he has been ruled out of this series so we will have to wait until 2021 to see how that particular revolution comes about. If Pakistan are going to be competitive in this series then their batsmen will need to stand up and deliver the goods. If they are able to do that, there is enough in their bowling attack to suggest they can have a good go here. Unlike in the T20s, the majority of their Test side have had a warm up match.
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Team News
New Zealand have named a 13-man squad for this match with Kane Williamson among the party after he missed the second Test against the West Indies. Will Young and Daryl Mitchell are the players likely to miss out unless the Kiwis go in without a spinner.
Pakistan have announced that Mohammad Rizwan will lead the side in the absence of Babar Azam while the likes of Shaheen Afridi is available. Shadab Khan has been ruled out of the match which means Yasir Shah is likely to be the sole spinner on show.
Betting
I like a performance bet for this opening Test match of the series. That is the one for the New Zealand wicket keeper BJ Watling where the line is 92.5 which is a touch on the low side when you consider that the only previous Test match to be played on this ground saw him score a double century against England last year. That highlights the potential for him to cover this total with the bat, especially if he happens to bat in two innings, which against this Pakistan attack would be perfectly possible.
The other reason why I like this line is because New Zealand tend to play their Test cricket on green tops where the ball seams around a fair bit and Asian players don’t tend to play those conditions well. We saw Tim Southee get a few wickets with a swinging ball in the T20s so the outside edge of the batsmen is always going to be in play in this match. I think he’ll go close to covering this line with the bat but with catches likely to come in bunches I’m happy to be on the over here.
Tips
WON – Back BJ.Watling’s Performance – Over 92.5pts for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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