New Zealand v Pakistan 1st ODI, Prediction & Betting Tips

The supreme team in full swing at the moment, New Zealand, will be playing two One Day Internationals against Pakistan prior to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. The Black Caps have beaten the Green Shirts in their home series 3-2. that was held in the United Arab Emirates at the end of the previous year. The Kiwis are in full flow and have humiliated the visiting Lankan Lions both in the longer and the shorter versions of the game. They have already grabbed the seven match ODI series at 4-1 with one game still left and will anticipate another victory. Pakistan has lost both games against New Zealand Board President’s XI and might get the same treatment from the national side as well.

Players to watch

Kane Williamson, Brendon McCullum, Luke Ronchi, Ross Taylor and Grant Elliott form a strong batting combination of the Kiwis and have scored plenty of runs in the recent games. Corey Anderson has performed excellently as an all-round and their bowling is being looked after well by Mitchell McClenaghan, Trent Boult, Tim Southee, Nathan McCullum and Adam Milne.

Misbah-ul-Haq and Umar Akmal are the only two batsmen who have resisted in the tour matches by scoring enough runs while their top order batting is still struggling. Haris Sohail along with Shahid Afridi demonstrated top class all-round performance in U.A.E while Ahmed Shehzad, Younis Khan, Sarfraz Ahmed and Mohammad Hafeez batted with authority in the last series. Mohammad Irfan, Bilawal Bhatti and Sohail Khan are the leading bowlers for the tourists on the recent tour.

Time & Venue

Saturday, January 31, 2015 @ 01:00 GMT, 14:00 local at Westpac Stadium, Wellington.

Weather

Prediction of rain with the temperatures around 19-23ᵒC.

Toss

The skippers normally decide to bat after winning the toss on a smooth day but they might go the other way due to overcast conditions.

The Pitch

The strip will assist the pace bowlers especially under clouds.

Teams

New Zealand –  (From) Brendon McCullum (C), Martin Guptill, Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Grant Elliott, Tom Latham, Luke Ronchi, Corey Anderson, Daniel Vettori, Kyle Mills, Mitchell McClenaghan, Nathan McCullum, Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Adam Milne.

Pakistan – (From) Misbah-ul-Haq (C), Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Younis Khan, Sohaib Maqsood, Umar Akmal, Sarfraz Ahmed, Shahid Afridi, Bilawal Bhatti, Ehsan Adil, Haris Sohail, Mohammad Irfan, Sohail Khan, Wahab Riaz, Yasir Shah.

Prediction

New Zealand will enter the series as a favourite.