Australia v New Zealand



Melbourne Friday 6th February 2009 03:15 GMT
Second ODI (3 Match Series, NZ leads 1-0)

Weather

It's not a very good time to be an Australian cricket fan right now is it? After a poor performance in the Test Series defeat in India, the Aussies got some slight respite by beating the Kiwis in the Test Series on home turf but this proved to be short lived joy as the South Africans decided to give them a good old fashioned beating in both the Test and One Day International Series on Aussie soil. So just when you thought it was safe for the Aussie fans to re-emerge from the closet of shame from which they were hiding in, up come the Kiwis to come over to Oz and kick a wounded animal while it is down.

Ok so maybe I exaggerate a little here but still you have to admit that things look pretty bleak. Gone are two of the greatest bowlers of all time in Shane Warne and Glen McGrath, gone is a formidable opening partnership between Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer and now we have more than just the initial cracks appearing underneath the surface of Ricky Ponting's winning machine. The team has sharply declined in the past year and now is very much the time to play them.

With Ricky Ponting being "rested" (that is the official line anyway) for the remaining Internationals and form, morale and intensity being at an all time low you would think that the prices would offer a fair reflection of this. Bearing in mind that the Aussies still have some quality individuals within their ranks with the likes of Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey and Mitchell Johnson all part of the present starting ODI side, home advantage and a general historical superiority I would make the Aussies about the 4/7 mark (1.57) for this second match in the series.
However as can be the case, the former world superpower are still overrated from a betting point of view and are a best price of 1.44 for this whilst you can get an extremely generous 3.45 to back New Zealand on Betfair. However laying Australia at 1.41 gives you a better return.

With three top class performers in the New Zealand side in left armer spinning all rounder Daniel Vettori, medium pace seamer Kyle Mills (who can add some vital slogs in the lower order also) and middle order batsmen Ross Taylor who can bat his side to victory on his own at times it will always guarantee a competitive performance. Wicketkeeper-batsmen Brendan McCullum is not very consistent with the bat but is very dangerous on account of his extremely aggressive batting which can take a game away from the side in the field. The Kiwis are one of the best fielding teams around and this tends to potentially save twenty runs or so in the match and can be a great leveler.

Long and short of it is that 1.41 is a joke. Lay away.

RECOMMENDATION - 3 Points Liability Lay of Australia @ 1.41 (Betfair )

Crafty Stan