Sri Lanka begin their white ball tour of New Zealand on Saturday when the two sides head to Mount Maunganui for the first of a three game T20 series which precedes an ODI series which carries much more importance with the Champions Trophy not far away.
These T20 matches could be considered the warm up for the more important ODIs to follow but even so it is a good chance for both teams to play some competitive cricket in a format that they are much better than they showed in the World Cup earlier in the year.
New Zealand
Given that they are on home soil, New Zealand should be more motivated for this series of the two sides. Their domestic T20 series has just got underway so white ball cricket will very much be in the spotlight in this part of the world for a little while. New Zealand have chosen to rest a couple of players who were heavily involved in the Test series with England just before Christmas but this still looks like a set of players who are very capable.
New Zealand have only played two T20 matches since the T20 World Cup and they were against this opposition over in Sri Lanka. They shared that series so they will be looking for more than that on home soil. When you look at the squad which New Zealand have selected for this match they look well equipped with the bat in hand but perhaps there is a question mark over whether they will have enough with the ball. That is a concern they will be looking to put to bed here.
Sri Lanka
The Sri Lankans appear to be taking this series seriously even though there is no competitive context to it. To be fair, they are an improving bunch in all formats of the game at the minute and have shown away to England in Test cricket and in T20 matches against West Indies and New Zealand that they can win in all conditions. This will be a decent test of their credentials but they arranged a warm up match just prior to Christmas so they should be able to hit the ground running.
Sri Lanka look to have the bowlers to not just keep them in the hunt in this match but to actually threaten to win it. They will obviously need to go well with the bat but they did that in the warm up game that they had and while this will be tougher against tougher opposition, you get the feeling that they will give this a real good go and will bring plenty of confidence into the match with them. If they can win here they will set themselves up nicely as they look to continue to rebuild their overall white ball credentials.
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Team News
New Zealand are without some experienced performers for this match. The likes of Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Tim Southee and Trent Boult are all missing for one reason or another so there is a chance for the likes of Nathan Smith and Tim Robinson to shine again.
Sri Lanka have quite a settled squad for T20 cricket at the minute. They have named a 16-man squad which includes the gun spin twins of Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana while Matheesha Pathirana is included too.
Betting
Usually my offering in a match that Wanindu Hasaranga is playing in is to take his performance but at 42.5 it is just a little on the high side to me given that we don’t know his form at present. I’m sure I will visit that at some point in this white ball tour but for now it is the price on Sri Lanka to win the game that I can’t ignore. This is very much a second string New Zealand side bar one or two players who are regulars on the T20 circuit but I don’t think that has been included in the prices.
You can get Sri Lanka at 11/8 for this match and when you consider that their top seven is the strongest that they have to offer and then they have a couple of very good spinners up against a few batters who won’t have faced much world class mystery spin and a couple of seamers who have mystery of their own, that just feels too big to me. New Zealand have the likes of Daryl Mitchell and Glenn Phillips who can win matches on their own if they come off but if Sri Lanka can keep them under wraps I think they can draw first blood in this series.
Tips
Back Sri Lanka to beat New Zealand for a 3/10 stake at 2.38 with Bet365
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