THE EDGE: The Edge previews the Cricket World Cup opener between ENGLAND v NEW ZEALAND with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
England v New Zealand
MATCH OVERVIEW:
The Cricket World Cup arrives from India on Thursday, and we have a brilliant two months ahead on BETDAQ Betting Exchange. Time seemingly sprints by in the sporting world; it still feels like yesterday Ben Stokes pulled off the remarkable innings to lead England to the Super Over against New Zealand, eventually winning the World Cup at Lord’s in a game for the ages. We kick off this World Cup with the exact same fixture, and we have a fascinating World Cup ahead in very different, and difficult, conditions.
India come into the World Cup as favourites with home advantage, but England are second favourites and they have the best one day side in the world at the moment. They are current T20 World Cup Champions too, and everywhere you look they have talent. Their batting is exceptionally strong, their power hitting the best in the world and their bowling is on the money too (most times!). They actually hosted New Zealand in a warm-up series in England this past month, we saw a pretty level series and you could argue conditions in India might suit New Zealand here. Their batting is quite slow, especially their top order, but in tricky batting conditions where there is some spin that’s not a bad thing.
The major worry you’d have for England heading into this World Cup is their bowling. No Jofra Archer is obviously a huge blow – he bowled the Super Over to win the last World Cup. Then Mark Wood has had so many injury worries too. The odds are pretty much the same as we saw when the sides met in England recently, and a lot of punters will find value in New Zealand. We’re all set for a fascinating tournament though – there really is nothing like a World Cup in India.
WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:
We begin the tournament in Ahmedabad in the world’s largest cricket stadium. On the 19th of November, we’ll end the tournament here too and crown the winners! England have good experience at this ground – when they toured India during Covid19 times they played a lot of cricket here – it was Test and T20 cricket though. Most of the players would have played IPL cricket here too. We have saw two types of wickets here; one that turns square and seems unplayable and one that is very easy to bat on with very high scores. I would have to expect the latter given it’s the start of the tournament. The warm-up games have had plenty of rain, so keep an eye on the radar over the tournament.
RECOMMENDED BET:
As I mentioned above, it’s very interesting to see England more or less the same price they were to beat New Zealand in England recently. Both sides will know each-others game very well at this stage. New Zealand are definitely a little stronger here as they were chopping and changing during that England tour. I don’t disagree that England should be favourites and that they have a very strong squad, but I feel the 2.9 is worth a small value bet on New Zealand. I expect a closer game than the odds suggest – if we have very good batting conditions this New Zealand side can go big, and if they need to dig in they can do that too. They might be over-powered in the end, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see them flip the market at some stage.
The Edge Says:
One point win New Zealand to beat England at 2.9 with Betdaq Exchange
View the market here -> https://betdaq.biz/EngNzl
IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:
As I said above, I wouldn’t be surprised to see New Zealand trade as favourites at some point throughout the game. They did much better than the market expected recently in England. I would get a feel for conditions here, and if we see the wicket being as flat as we’ve saw in white ball cricket here then I would solely focus on trying to find trades on the batting side. I’d expect a decent score from whoever bats first here, and as always in India keep an eye on what type of dew we get for the chase – a heavy dew is always a nightmare for the bowlers. What a tournament to look forward to, I can’t wait to get underway.
