Sports Blog 09/06/2015: Cricket Preview - England v New Zealand, 1st One Day International, Tuesday 9th June 2015

Eoin Morgan leads his England side into battle in a 5 game ODI series starting today at Edgbaston.

A youthful and exciting England go into the series as underdogs after New Zealand’s impressive World Cup campaign, which saw them defeated in the final against the mighty Australians.

Our traders price England at 27-30 on the series index, with the Kiwis pitched at 45-48 (10pts per match won, 25pts for winning the series), which gives some indication of how big a challenge this is that faces this inexperienced English side. For this 1st ODI our traders have the spread betting Supremacy quote as New Zealand over England 10-20 (based on number of runs won by or 10 points per wicket won by), and the Black Caps are priced at 57.8-63.7.



England may be aided in this first ODI by the potential absence of key New Zealand strike bowler Tim Southee. After a typically robust performance in the test series Southee may be given a break by the Kiwis, wary of managing the workload of one of their top performers.

With Southee likely to miss out, the exciting English opening pair of Alex Hales and Jason Roy will look to get England off to a flyer in the power play. Hales’ Player Performance is quoted at 35-40 and Roy’s at 33-38 for those looking to have an interest in either of these young trailblazers (Player Performance is based on 1 point per run, 10 points per catch, 20 points per wicket and 25 points per stumping). Hales is also included in our England Joy of Six market alongside fellow big-hitters Morgan and Jos Buttler. With 25pts awarded per 6 hit by the trio, our traders quote 62-70.

England’s batting was a tentative positive of the short test series, with the likes of Ben Stokes and Joe Root providing English supporters with some cause for optimism for the future. The middle order will need to bat through the middle overs and accumulate at a better rate than has previously been the case for England, particularly when trying to manipulate spin bowling.

England 50 Ups are quoted at 36-41 (the aggregate of all scores over 50), with England Ton Ups a tempting 5-7 (the aggregate of all scores over 100). With a strong looking middle order featuring the likes of Morgan, Stokes and the returning James Taylor, England should be capable of building a solid platform for the likes of Buttler to fire towards the end of the innings.



As we saw throughout the World Cup, the New Zealand openers are not short of a shot or two. Both Brendan McCullum and Martin Guptill thrilled crowds throughout the tournament, with Guptill finishing as the top runscorer in the tournament and McCullum arguably the most exciting batsman in the world game. These two are expected to blast New Zealand off to a flying start, with their 1st 15 Over supremacy quoted at 9-12 over England.

With no James Anderson or Stuart Broad in the England side it will be down to the likes of Steven Finn and Mark Wood to make early breakthroughs and stem the flow of runs. McCullum player performance is quoted at 43-48, with Guptill pitched at 39-44. McCullum features alongside Ross Taylor and Luke Ronchi in the New Zealand Joy of Six market, quoted at 66-74.

With the weather set fair and two exciting batting line-ups coming up against relatively inexperienced bowling, the markets for total 4s and 6s are well worth a look. Our traders quote Total Fours at 45-48 and Total Sixes at 9.5-10.5, perhaps indicating that the batsmen could well have the better of it in this first ODI.

A look at some of the relatively modest quotes about some of the bowlers’ player performances gives an indication of their expected limited success. Steven Finn (30-35), Mark Wood (28-33) and Adil Rashid (28-33) are all pitched relatively low, and it’s a similar story amongst the New Zealand attack. With the exception of the superb Trent Boult (37-42), the England batsmen should have the upper hand over the inexperienced Black Caps attack.

With plenty more markets available once the match starts, Spreadex will be the best place to be for the action. The toss is at 1:30pm this afternoon, with live coverage on Sky Sports 2. Let battle commence!