New Zealand vs England Test Series: Preview

With England overpowering New Zealand yet again in the Super Over and claiming the T20 Cup by 3-2, the English-Kiwi rivalry has reached a new level. The wheel now moves on to the Test Series where England will play two test matches against the Black Caps in Mount Maunganui and Hamilton on 20th and 28th November, respectively.

Also see – World Test Championship Schedule

Team Comparison

There’s a lot of buzz in Kiwi’s compartment with the inclusion of Lockie Ferguson who is known to have some serious raw pace. The fast bowler may make a debut in this series alongside the internationally acclaimed fast bowling troika of Trent Boult, Tim Southee and Neil Wagner. In the spin department, Mitchell Santner will be supported by Todd Astle.

The Kiwi Squad comprises of batsmen like Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor and Jeet Rawal, wicketkeeping-batsmen like Tom Latham, BJ Watling, Tom Blundell and Henry Nicholls and all-rounders such as Colin de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner and Todd Astle. Matt Henry is also a part of the current squad.

The English squad is equally poised with batsmen like Joe Root, Zak Crawley and Dominic Sibley. A number of batting all-rounders like Ben Stokes and Joe Denly have been included in the team alongside bowling all-rounders like Chris Woakes, Sam Curran and Jofra Archer. Wicketkeeping-batsmen selected for the series are Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow, Ollie Pope and Rory Burns.

The bowling will be led by Stuart Broad and equally supported by Jack Leach, Saqib Mahmood and Matthew Parkinson if they get to feature in the final eleven.

Bowling vs Batting

The series will witness class batting in the form of Root, Stokes, Buttler and Bairstow against the formidable bowling of Boult, Southee, Wagner and Ferguson whereas the likes of Williamson, Taylor, Latham, Grandhomme and Watling will be up against Broad, Archer, Woakes and Curran.

England vs New Zealand – Head to Head

Out of 103 test matches that both teams have played, England has an upper hand on the kiwis with 48 wins against 10 losses and 45 matches have been drawn. However, the past series in 2018 belonged to the Black Caps with 1-0. 10CRIC the online betting platform has tipped the odds in the favour of the English squad.

The Last Face-off

Both teams have played 9 tests from 2013 to 2018 in which Kiwis have won 2 and England have won 3 matches and 4 matches were drawn.

In their first Day Night Test Match in 2018 at Auckland, England were thrashed brutally by the Kiwis where they scored a paltry 58 in the first innings and could score only 320 in the second innings against the score of 427/8(d) by Kiwis with Boult claiming 9 wickets in the match and Southee scalping 5.

In the second match of the series, England improved their performance but it was not enough to give them a win and the match was drawn with Southee claiming the Man of the Match title with 7 wickets and a score of 50 runs in the first innings of the match.

Pitch/surface to Expect in the Series

The pitches in New Zealand are known to spurt fire with fast bowlers getting good carry even on Day 5 of the match. The series promises to be a heaven for fast bowlers and the team performing better on these surfaces would claim the title.

With the raw pace of Ferguson and Archer, batsmen are not going to have a great time out in the middle. However, batsmen always get rewards for their shots as the outfields in New Zealand are quick and you always get value for your shots.

The series will be a test of temperament for batsmen as well and the more they stand on the surface, easier will it be for them to bat long and take their team home. Now that you have all the information you need to place your bets, log onto 10CRIC and claim a bonus of up to INR 10,000.