The Test series between New Zealand and West Indies comes to a close over the next five days as the two teams meet in the second Test match in Hamilton. New Zealand emphatically won the opening match so West Indies need to win here to escape with a shares of the spoils. Any other result gives the Kiwis the series.
New Zealand
Apart from the majority of the first session of the match and a couple of sessions on the third day New Zealand were always in control of the opening game. They bowled with discipline and when Plan A wasn’t working they quickly switched to Plan B which generally worked a treat which will give them confidence.
They went out with the intention of batting just the once in the match and they successfully managed that thanks to a couple of hefty middle and lower order contributions. The concern for them going into that opening match was a flimsy looking area in that part of their batting line up but that was wonderfully put to bed.
West Indies
Things looked like they could be ticking along nicely for West Indies in the first session of the first Test. Kraigg Brathwaite and Kieran Powell had seemingly seen off the new ball and were looking comfortable but then a barrage of short balls forced a horrible collapse and they were never able to recover from that.
They huffed and puffed with the ball but each time they threatened to keep themselves in the match a partnership took it away from them and ultimately they perished to the stubbornness of the Kiwi batting line up. They will need to bowl better in this match but they will need to bat so much more better.
Team News
New Zealand will have Tim Southee available for this match after he was forced to miss the first one. He is expected to replace Matt Henry. BJ Watling remains on the sidelines though.
West Indies will be without their captain Jason Holder who is suspended after a slow over rate issue. They must decide whether Alzarri Joseph or Raymon Reifer replaces him.
Seddon Park
This is a relatively new Test match ground. It will be hosting a 24th match in this format and New Zealand have 10 wins and six defeats with seven draws from the previous matches here. West Indies have played here twice and lost on both occasions.
The wicket here is expected to have pace and bounce throughout the contest but batsmen won’t mind that if it is consistent so there should be something for everyone in this game.
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Betting
I took a chance with West Indies in the first match of the series and I was royally put in my place so I won’t be doing that again but New Zealand are far too short to sweat on even allowing for the fact they are the most likely winners.
With that in mind my bet is going to be on a player performance with Neil Wagner the player in question. He has a line of 105.5 which looks perfectly achievable to me. He had this covered on the first day in the first match and while we might be forced to wait a little longer here I do think six wickets or five wickets and a few runs are within his reach.
He is the fastest of the New Zealand bowlers on show so the pace and bounce in this deck should be right up his street and with the amount of players struggling for form and a longer tail to bounce out Wagner should cover this.
Tips
WON – Back N.Wagner’s Performance – Over 105.5pts for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Paddy Power
Back him here:
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