THE EDGE: The Edge previews the 2nd Test between NEW ZEALAND v ENGLAND with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
New Zealand v England 2nd Test
MATCH OVERVIEW:
New Zealand and England are back in action on BETDAQ Betting Exchange as the 2nd Test begins on Thursday night in Wellington. We had a highly entertaining 1st Test which England won easily in the end – it was the ideal start for England but obviously there’s a lot of room for improvement in the New Zealand batting line-up. Kane Williamson returned with a nice 93 in the first innings, but once he was gone for 61 in the second innings it felt like that was game over. England did really well getting early wickets in both innings, and they must be delighted with the bowling.
New Zealand came into this Test series with higher expectations after beating India 3-0 in India – even winning a Test match in India is a massive achievement never mind whitewashing a series! England now have a chance to take an early series win though, and to be honest the game plan won’t have to change much. The bowlers looked in good form, obviously conditions are quite similar to England so not much change is needed. Harry Brook played a match-winning innings of 171 but two hugely positive things for England was the Ben Stokes 80 and then Jacob Bethell finishing 50 not out to guide them home with a small chase.
As I said in the 1st Test preview, Bethell had next to no experience in long-form domestic cricket, so that will do his confidence the world of good – talk about thrown in at the deep end batting at three! We should have another entertaining Test match here; it’s no surprise that we have such an even market.
WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:
The sides move to Wellington for the 2nd Test, and this is another ground that England should know well with all the International cricket here over the years. Basin Reserve is a bucket list cricket venue for many cricket fans with the grass banks. This is one of those Test venues with years of history – close to a 100 years now – England played the first Test here in 1930! For years, it was draw friendly but not in recent times – since 2015, we’ve had only one draw from twelve Tests. Australia toured here last year and scored 383 in the first innings to win by 172 as New Zealand could only managed 179 and 196. England scored 435/8d in 2023, but then fell short chasing 258 in the last innings after New Zealand had to follow on. Like most grounds in New Zealand, runs are there when you get in but we usually see one blow-out innings from the four!
RECOMMENDED BET:
The market isn’t expecting the draw to feature – that’s trading 10.0, but in fairness it was trading higher for the 1st Test! We can see some big scores here in the first innings, so we might see it trade shorter but with the way these two play cricket I can’t see a draw to be honest. Once again, I think it’s a straight shootout between the sides and once again, I feel we have the wrong favourites here. We landed a bet on England in the 1st Test, and I feel they are worth backing again at 2.22. Their batting looked in good touch and as I mentioned above, some important knocks for confidence too – they might actually improve for this Test.
The Edge Says:
Two points win England to beat New Zealand at 2.22 with Betdaq Exchange
View the market here -> https://betdaq.biz/NZEng2
IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:
I said this heading into the 1st Test, but I feel once again that the most important thing when trading is to not get married to a position here. I expect swings and roundabouts between these two sides – they both played a very attacking brand of cricket. The history of this ground usually involved one low scoring innings, and these two easily have that in their locker too. The England bowlers impressed me in the 1st Test I have to say, and I wouldn’t mind supporting them again here. I do feel, as I did in the 1st Test, that when someone gets in and gets going like Harry Brook in the 1st Test is the best time to support the batting side. Runs are always there in New Zealand when batters get settled, and you want to ride that momentum.
