England and New Zealand will only have a few days turnaround to the 2nd Test, which gets underway on Thursday night from Edgbaston. We have a full preview and betting tips for the clash courtesy of Mr.Cricket below.
England vs New Zealand 2nd Test Betting Tips
Edgbaston, Thursday 10th June 8.00pm (AEST)
England Squad: Joe Root (c), James Anderson, Sam Billings+, James Bracey+, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Zak Crawley, Ben Foakes+, Haseeb Hameed, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Craig Overton, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Dom Sibley, Olly Stone, Mark Wood
New Zealand Squad: Kane Williamson (c), Tom Blundell+, Trent Boult, Doug Bracewell, Devon Conway+, Colin de Grandhomme, Jacob Duffy, Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Tom Latham+, Daryl Mitchell, Henry Nicholls, Ajaz Patel, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Neil Wagner, BJ Watling+, Will Young
1st Test Review
The 1st Test at Lord’s was a bit of an arm wrestle at times but the Kiwis had the slight upper hand in a game that ended in a rain affected draw. Had there been no rain, New Zealand might have had enough time to bowl their opponents out and claim an historic win.
The Kiwis piled on 378 in the first innings despite a disappointing perfoeamnce from their captain and the No.1 ranked Test batsman in the world in Kane Williamson. Instead it was debutant Devon Conway who was the standout for NZ, smashing 200 in his first innings all but take defeat out of the equation for his side.
In reply, England managed 375 on the back of a fantastic 132 from opener Rory Burns and good supporting roles from Joe Root and debutant Ollie Robinson. The New Zealand bowlers were much more adept with the swinging Duke ball then I predicted them to be, with Tim Southee standing out in the first innings, taking 6/43 while Neil Wagner also looked dangerous.
The series now heads to Edgbaston, where England have been dominant over the years, losing just 2 of their last 15 games, as well has never having lost to the Kiwis there.
Match Prediction
The main concern that was prevalent through game one is the sheer lack of experience in the English batting line-up. Outside of Joe Root, the top six have all played under 25 Tests, and they looked really raw against a talented Kiwi pace attack in the first Test. Ben Stokes is the obvious missing cog, but he won’t be available for the this weeks’ game either.
Young opener Haseeb Hameed could get the chance for the English at the expense of Dom Sibley or Zak Crawley, while one of the four pronged pace attack will likely be dropped for spinner Jack Leach. Debutant Ollie Robinson bowled well and will be fighting James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Mark Wood, Olly Stone and Craig Overton for a place in the XI.
Hard to see the Kiwis making any changes to their top six ahead of the 2nd Test after they put in a solid performance in the 1st. Whether or not they continue with the two all-rounders in Colin de Grandhomme and Mitchell Santner at 7 and 8 is a different story. Fast bowler Trent Boult could be ready to go, and will want to get some match fitness under his belt before the all-important Test Championship against India.
England seemed the safe bet in the 1st Test but after getting a good look at their batting line-up and it’s evident lack of experience, I’m swinging more towards the Kiwis in this 2nd game. Their batting line-up is much more settled and their fast bowlers seem to have a handle on the Duke ball, which was something I thought might require a bit of a learning curve.
Rain won’t affect the 2nd Test, so I think the Kiwis are fantastic value at $2.22 to win.
