West Indies complete their tour of New Zealand on Thursday when they battle it out in the second Test match of the two game series, looking to put on a much stronger showing than they displayed in the opening game in Hamilton.
West Indies were well beaten there and will need a win here to square the series. New Zealand only need to avoid defeat to claim the series win but should they come out on top in this match they will go to the top of the ICC Test rankings so there is plenty of incentive there for them.
New Zealand
It was near enough a complete performance from New Zealand in the opening match of the series. That should come as no surprise though because they are becoming one of the hardest teams to beat in their own conditions, and they were never going to take West Indies lightly as they look to build up a head of steam for what is actually a big and lengthy international summer when you consider that we are still in the middle of a pandemic globally.
It remains to be seen as we go through the summer whether bubble fatigue and things come into play but for now you sense we are going to continue to see the best of the Kiwis, particularly as they have their sights set on the inaugural World Test Championship which is due to be staged at Lord’s next year. They need to keep winning if that goal is going to become a reality so we shouldn’t expect to see any let up here.
West Indies
Every now and again the West Indies side have shown that they can be competitive in this format of the game but all too often they let themselves down. The really annoying thing about them is that when things go wrong they look disinterested and seemingly have no fight or intention to dig in and try and turn things around. That is a mind set that Jason Holder and the coaches need to get into this side if they are to progress in the longest format of the game.
The other thing they need to do is find a top order that they can settle on and which works because all too often they are done before they get going with the bat in hand. If they can start scoring runs regularly in all conditions then they have the seam attack to take advantage, but getting their batsmen on a going day is never the easiest thing in the world. We saw in England earlier in the year that when it all comes together they can be some force.
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Team News
Both sides will be forced into changes for this match. New Zealand are missing their captain Kane Williamson who is off waiting for the birth of his child. BJ Watling comes back from injury while Tom Latham will skipper the side.
West Indies will be without Shane Dowrich and Kemar Roach from the opening game. Dowrich has gone home with the injury he picked up in that first game while Roach has headed off to deal with the death of his father. Joshua Da Silva is one who will come into the team.
Betting
I’ll go with a couple of bets for this second match of the series. The first of those is the Neil Wagner performance where the line at 105.5 feels a little on the low side to me. He took six of the 18 wickets to fall in the first game and didn’t get a bat so there is naturally more to come from arguably the most underrated seamer in world cricket at the minute. Wagner has decent form on this ground as well having taken nine wickets in two of his last three games here and you get the suspicion that the West Indies top order will be determined to see off the new ball which could open the door for Wagner to burst through. I expect him to take the six wickets we need for this line to be covered but we might get there with five and a few runs. The over looks good to me.
I’ll also have a go with Joshua da Silva to top score for the tourists in the first innings. He is on debut here but he has been touted as the occupier of the wicket keeper role in waiting for a while and now is his chance to make that position his own. He averages more than 30 in First-class cricket back home and we saw in the first game that the West Indies top order looks all at sea against the quality that the New Zealand attack have to offer. It might well be that da Silva doesn’t have a whole lot to beat here so at 12/1 I’ll pay to see if he top scores in the first dig.
Tips
WON – Back N.Wagner’s Performance – Over 105.5pts for a 3/10 stake at 1.73 with Bet365
Back J.da Silva Top West Indies 1st Inns Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 13.00 with Coral
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