e-mail to friend  print this article

Arguably two of the least entertaining test teams in world cricket lock horns in a three test series in New Zealand .

Not the most attractive of propositions, just because the action may not always be pleasing to the eye as we see a few of the English batsmen 'flat bat' their way
into form, it doesn't mean that there is not excellent money to be made here!

On paper, England are definitely the team with the most test pedigree. To illustrate this, in his last series before retiring, Stephen Fleming is New Zealand 's top century scorer with nine under his belt.

To put this into perspective, Kevin Pietersen has ten centuries in just 33 tests. This is where our first series bet will come from - Kevin Pietersen top England series run-scorer @ 4.0 with Boyle Sports (E/W 1/4 1,2,3).

Although he has been in the midst of a slight wobble over the past few months, Kevin Pietersen remains a run-machine for England in tests. Usually I would dodge a run-scorer bet with the player in indifferent form - by his own high standards - but KP is the type of batsman who thrives against mediocre bowling. Not to say that he can't do well against the better teams, as he has proven otherwise - but in world cricket, there are few batsmen more adept than Pietersen at dominating poor bowling, and destroying medium pacers on docile wickets. At 4.0 with each-way terms, I'm prepared to have a small dabble.

For the New Zealand equivalent, look no further than Stephen Fleming, available at 3.75 (E/W 1/3, 1,2) with Blue Square . Remarkably, he is the only batsman in the current squad to have commanded a guaranteed place in the line-up, let alone score runs consistently at test level. He has announced that he will be retiring after this series, and with the recent retirement of Scott Styris from the test scene, Brendon McCullum and Jacob Oram are his only serious threats in this market, and they are not even specialist batsmen. Jamie How has shown recent glimpses of quality but I am willing to overlook him in favour Fleming, who will be looking to exit the test scene on a personal high.

Onto the series odds market, and an England win is generally available at 1.8 , and I feel that this should be taken with confidence.

Both sides have been treading water in the test field over the last couple of years, struggling to manufacture wins. With New Zealand , their focus has been firmly on the limited overs form of the game, and their batting line-up leaves a lot to be desired. Fleming should be as reliable as ever in his farewell series, but the likes of Matthew Sinclair and Matthew Bell have flattered to deceive for far too long. Their bowling is solid if unspectacular, with Chris Martin and Kyle Mills matching up reasonably well to their swing bowling counterparts in Matthew Hoggard and Ryan Sidebottom.

I can't help but wonder as to where New Zealand will manage to take 20 English wickets without regular five-wicket hauls, whereas I feel that England's vastly superior batting should see them through. I would be surprised to see New Zealand hit the 350+ mark on a regular basis whereas I'm confident that England should be able to do just that - Strauss, Cook, Bell, Pietersen, Vaughan and Collingwood all average over 40 in tests, whereas not a single New Zealand batsman can boast such a record. I am struggling to see how New Zealand will get the runs on the board to pose a threat to England .

In terms of recent history in tests, England 's record of one win in fourteen tests away from home is not too encouraging, but delving deeper, series defeats to Australia and Sri Lanka are nothing to be ashamed about, and their line-up is just about settled enough to start to expect them to come good against an average New Zealand team.

The statistics don't lie - New Zealand's batting card is barely test standard whereas England have a core of consistent batsmen, and this is where they should have the edge to wrap up a comfortable series win.

NJ's Recommendations:

3pts Kevin Pietersen top England series run-scorer @ 4.0 with Boyle Sports (E/W 1/4 1,2,3).

3pts Stephen Fleming top New Zealand series run-scorer available @ 3.75 (E/W 1/3, 1,2) with Blue Square

4pts England series win @ 1.8