Bangladesh v New Zealand 3rd ODI .....Same Old Story

14th October Chittagong - 03.00 GMT

As I hinted in my preview of the 2nd match, Bangladesh have a history of false dawns after famous wins against top opposition.

And sure enough, it was the same old story again as their batting capitulated again.
This time it was even more frustrating for their followers as at one stage they had the Kiwis at 86-5 and it looked like they would be chasing something well below 200.

However, as in the first game, it was the same old story as Jacob Oram came to the Kiwi’s rescue with a great innings of 75. Even so, a target of 213 should have given Bangladesh hopes of following up the win in the first game.

Alas, no. Despite being well placed at 71-2, they fell into their bad old days and collapsed to 137 all out.

On a positive front, as I indicated in that last preview, there would be trading opportunities for Bangladesh backers, and so it proved as they traded at sub 1.4 from a prematch price of 6.0.

So what going to happen in this final match of the series?

The venue is different, the pitch at Chittagong will again be a slow low one, but slightly better for batting then Mirpur was.

Bangladesh have done exceedingly well so far to keep the Kiwi big guns McCullum and Taylor in check. The chances are that this time though, one of them, if not both could come good. And even if they don’t, the Kiwis know they have Oram in good touch if they struggle again.

Overall I expect a better batting show from both teams and a slightly higher scoring game. The Kiwis are rightly short priced favourites and they could well justify those short odds.

But as the first two games have shown, the Bangladeshi bowling attack is not doing much wrong. Once again I feel they can contain the Kiwis to a manageable score.
The big question then would be wether the batsmen will show the patience and application they showed in that first game.

So what’s the bet?

Well, same old story on that front too. I feel once again that though the Kiwis could prevail in the end, there is absolutely no value in backing them. Those backing Bangladesh can do so with a reasonable amount of confidence that once again there will at least be trading opportunities to lock in a profit. But as before, the advice is to keep the stakes minimal and therefore the play is:

BACK Bangladesh for 1 point 6.5 @ Boylesports.

Join me, and hopefully this time the story will happy a happier ending.

Bigjoe