New Zealand v West Indies Test Series.......Home Is Where The Heart Is

Starts Wednesday 10th December 23:00 GMT
Dunedin



Weather

They say there is no place like home. It seems this is never truer then when the Kiwi's are playing Test cricket.

Away from home, apart from beating Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, the Kiwis have not won a test against top eight opposition since 2002 when they beat West Indies at Bridgetown. In those last six years their performances overseas have lacked heart and have been peppered with tame and spectacular batting collapses.
 
However, back home on pitches and conditions they are familiar with, they seem find that heart and have won tests on a regular basis against the top sides. They have home test match wins over India, Sri Lanka, South Africa, England and a 2-0 series win over West Indies on their last visit in 2006.
 
Both the Kiwi's and the West Indies come into this series on the back of 2-0 series losses to Australia. They are languishing in 8th and 7th spots respectively in the Test rankings and this series is going to be critical for both teams to try and bounce back.
 
Whilst the Kiwi form has been miserable in recent years, the West Indies have been even worse. They have won just two tests in the last 3 years, home and away. Both those wins were impressive however, at home against Sri Lanka and away to South Africa in Port Elizabeth a year ago.
 
Overall though the fact is that the Windies have only won Test series against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe in the last 5 years, and more alarmingly as far as this series is concerned, they have not won a test match against New Zealand, home or away, since 1996.
 
The squads for this series see changes for both teams. Surprisingly both Chris Martin and the young and upcoming Tim Southee have been dropped and replaced by James Franklin and Mark Gillespie. On the batting front Redmond and Foulton have made way for the debutant Tim McIntosh and the welcome return after injury of Jacob Oram.
 
Oram has been sorely missed recently and his presence in the side will boost the Kiwi's confidence in both the batting and bowling departments.
 
Just as the Kiwi's welcome back their star all rounder, the Windies will be ruing the fact that they will be missing theirs. Dwayne Bravo has been one of their most consistent performers of late with both bat and ball and his presence will be sorely missed. However, on paper at least, the Windies batting looks strong with the experience of Gayle, Chanderpaul and Sarwan complimenting the exciting new talent in Chattergoon and Marshall.
 
The bowling attack though of Powell, Taylor and Edwards looks a bit one dimensional and the absence of an experienced spinner could prove their undoing, especially in the first Test at Dunedin where the pitch has changed in recent years and now tends to be slower.
 
Ok so what’s the bet?
 
One of the main characteristics of both of these teams in recent years has been their ability for spectacular batting collapses. That would indicate that draw backers need to be very careful as a result in both tests is quite likely.
 
This 1st Test at Dunedin will offer the Windies their best chance of a draw as this pitch will offer the best batting conditions, however, it is more likely that the Kiwis, through the spin of Vettori, and possibly Patel as 2nd spinner, will prevail. The 2nd test at Napier should see a seamers paradise and almost certainly a result, assuming there are no major weather disruptions. This time I feel the experience at home of the Kiwi seamers will triumph.
 
I feel the batting of the sides is well matched, but the Kiwi's have the better balanced bowling attack and they are much more likely to win one of the tests at least and secure a series win.
 
Therefore I suggest the best value bets for this series are:
 
In the Series win market:
 
BACK New Zealand for 5 points @ 2.5 at Bluesq
 
And in the Series correct score market:
 
BACK New Zealand to win 2-0 for 1 point @ 5.0 Bluesq , Skybet, Ladbrokes.
 
Join me and again we will see the Kiwi's prove that home is indeed where their heart is.
 
Bigjoe