A week or so after the amazing Test match against England, New Zealand begin another series on Thursday when they play host to Sri Lanka in the first of two matches with this opening game coming from Christchurch.
This is a bigger match for the tourists than the hosts as Sri Lanka can still make it through to the World Test Championship final were they to win both of these matches and the result of the last Test in India this week go their way. New Zealand are playing for the future really.
New Zealand
It had looked like England were an unstoppable force but New Zealand managed to do it in their last game, an incredible victory in which they came from an absolute mile back to come out on top in a thrilling game. As ever when victories like that come along one or two cracks get papered over and the Kiwis will need to ensure that doesn’t happen but you can’t beat a win for confidence, especially one in which they trailed for the most part.
What that match did show us was that the character New Zealand cricket are famous for hasn’t left them. They battled hard with the bat in the second innings after a disappointing opening showing and then plugged away with the ball on a good pitch. This isn’t the New Zealand side of a couple of years ago but they showed in those matches against England, particularly the second one, that they can be competitive in red ball cricket still.
Sri Lanka
When you consider where Sri Lanka have been in this format of the game since their elite stars retired, they have to be given credit for still being alive in the race for the World Test Championship this deep into the cycle. It remains a long shot for them to make that final but they have given themselves every chance of being successful here having scheduled their four-day domestic cricket ahead of this tour and then played a warm up match prior to this opening game.
You sense if Sri Lanka are going to have any chance in this match they are going to need to bat well in the first innings. We saw in both matches against England how the pitch started out very green and then flattened out the longer the game went on so Sri Lanka need to be in the match at halfway. If they are then they are winning enough matches to cause what would be an upset despite the fact it is Sri Lanka still in WTC contention.
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Team News
New Zealand played the extra batter in the second game against England but they are expected to go back to a four-man seam attack here with Blair Tickner the favourite to come in for Will Young. Matt Henry is likely to keep his place so Scott Kuggeleijn will need to wait for another chance.
Sri Lanka have to decide whether they can risk the pace option of Lahiru Kumara. He could be very useful in these conditions but he would be no use to them if he was to break down again. They might side with Chamika Karunaratne who offers batting depth too.
Betting
I think the general consensus is that New Zealand are going to run Sri Lanka over twice in this match and come out on top with plenty to spare but I think the tourists have a bit more about them than that these days. Sri Lanka played eight Test matches in 2022 and put up six scores over 330 and when you consider that the first two of those games were in India where few opposing teams get close to 330 that is a perfectly fair effort.
It is also encouraging that Sri Lanka have had a warm up match where their top order all either got runs or got a start in the middle so I actually think Sri Lanka will put up some runs if not in both innings then certainly in their second one when this pitch flattens out. The one thing we did see from New Zealand against England is that their backup bowlers leave plenty to be desired. There is no reason to suggest that New Zealand won’t feast on a Sri Lanka attack which is missing Dushmantha Chameera so over 894.5 runs feels like a good bet here.
Tips
Back Over 894.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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