Twenty20 Cricket

By Crafty Stan

New Zealand v Australia



1st Twenty20 International Friday 26th February 2010, 06:00 GMT
Weather

After an unbeaten home summer for the dominant Australian team, they head to rival territory to play the Kiwis in New Zealand. They will be given a much fiercer test by a tough outfit and in more trying conditions so do not expect a cakewalk.

Despite the recent success of the team there is still a bit of an experimental feel to this Aussie unit in my opinion, they are constantly tinkering with their bowling line up to find the best combination. The likes of Dirk Nannes, Ryan Harris, Daniel Christian and Steven Smith are all fairly new to the Australia set up and whilst it is easy to blend into a team steamrollering meek opposition, they will be tested in different ways here.

The return of Shane Bond is also a plus for the Black Caps irrespective of his age and along with their brilliant skipper Daniel Vettori, they arguably have the two best limited overs bowlers within the entire of both teams’ squads for this encounter.

It sounds like I am being one-eyed here but I am just trying put across that this will not be easy and you have to consider whether the present market price is reading too much into this recent run that the Aussie have enjoyed on home soil. Remember Australia were dumped out of the last Twenty20 World Cup without winning a game. Albeit with slightly different personnel but they didn't have home advantage then either.

So let’s get on to the main body of it. The prices. I make New Zealand a 2.63 shot at the most so anything above that has to be an automatic back for me on the Kiwis.
 
RECOMMENDATION - 2.5 Points New Zealand @ 3.1 (Betfair)

Crafty Stan