THE EDGE: The Edge previews the first T20 between England v New Zealand with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
MATCH OVERVIEW:
England begin their prep work for the ODI World Cup on Wednesday as the New Zealand tour kicks off with the first T20 on BETDAQ Betting Exchange. With all eyes on the ODI format leading into the World Cup, the T20 squad has clearly been picked with a view to the future. Unfortunately for the likes of Josh Tongue and John Turner, they are out with injury which is a shame for them, and England as they can both bowl at 90mph+. New Zealand arrive into England after losing a shock T20 against the UAE. They won the series 2-1, but with such a gulf in class is was a massive shock to even lose one game.
It will be interesting to see how New Zealand perform while in England, especially in the ODI’s. Jimmy Neesham misses the T20’s for the birth of his first child, while Kane Williamson is in a race against time to get fit for the World Cup. In fairness, Williamson looked certain to miss the World Cup due to an ACL injury at the IPL but he has been “making great progress” in the last few weeks and has travelled to England. Him fit would be a huge boost for New Zealand, especially in the 50 over format.
Although we will see some newer faces here, we still have the likes of Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow and Adil Rashid in the England squad while New Zealand have a pretty strong core in their squad too – Tim Southee will lead them, while their bowling will be pretty much full strength.
WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:
The tour begins at Chester-le-Street. We generally don’t have too much International cricket here, but it is used every so often by the ECB. We don’t usually get he “bigger” sides here – indeed South Africa played an ODI here in 2022; they’ve been the biggest team to play here in years. Usually it’s the likes of Sri Lanka and West Indies that play here. Australia have played here a few times, but that was years ago. There hasn’t been an International T20 here since 2017 – indeed there has only been three. I don’t think the scores are relevant they were so long ago – a better reference might be South Africa scoring 333/5 in the ODI last year, but that’s a different format altogether. I’d keep an open mind on conditions.
RECOMMENDED BET:
England come into the game as the heavy favourites trading 1.48. Obviously New Zealand losing a recent T20 against UAE has to be a worry, but they do have a nice bowling line-up for this series. I’m going to keep stakes small, but I feel we will see a closer game than the odds suggest here. My main worry is the New Zealand batting – in that department England are much stronger, but England haven’t played a T20 since March and they don’t have their strongest XI here either. New Zealand could surprise them, and 3.0 is worth a small punt.
The Edge Says:
One point win New Zealand to beat England at 3.0 with Betdaq Exchange
View the market here -> https://betdaq.biz/EngNwz
IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:
I mentioned above that England haven’t played an International T20 since March, of course all their stars have been busy – the IPL and the Hundred just finishing. We could see England not fully sure what their best batting line-up here is though, who opens and who’s in the middle order etc. I feel supporting New Zealand while bowling offers the best in-running trade in my opinion. However, it’s been years since we’ve had an International T20 here so let’s wait and see what conditions are like before forming a set in-running strategy. An interesting tour awaits as we count down to the ODI World Cup in India.
