New Zealand v Pakistan prediction & best bets, CWC 2019 Tips

New Zealand vs Pakistan betting tips

MATCH INFO
New Zealand v Pakistan
Venue: Edgbaston, Birmingham, Wednesday, June 26, 10.30 (British time)
Head to head odds: New Zealand $1.62; Pakistan $2.25
Last time they met: No result: Pakistan 8-279 (50 overs) v New Zealand 1-35 (6.5 overs) in Dubai, November 11, 2018.


UNDEFEATED New Zealand can almost certainly book its semi-final spot at the cricket World Cup with a win over enigmatic Pakistan on Wednesday at Edgbaston.

The Kiwis have scraped home in their last two matches — against South Africa and the West Indies — largely on the back of skipper Kane Williamson’s brilliance, but they will be looking for a more convincing outing against Pakistan.

Pakistan breathed life into its flagging fortunes last outing when it easily defeated South Africa, but the disciplined Kiwis will be a different type of scenario.

New Zealand will enter the clash as $1.65 favourite, while the bookies have priced Pakistan at $2.25, a juicy price considering the Pakistanis have taken the scalp of host and pre-tournament favourite England.

It’s worth keeping an eye on selection with several Kiwis, including star opener Martin Guptill, under an injury cloud for this match. Guptill was moving gingerly in the field late in the West Indies game which is enough for us to keep him out of our player bets in this match.

Last outing Pakistan’s Haris Sohail was the difference with a blistering 89 off 59 balls, which helped his team score over 300 and essentially shut South Africa out of the match.

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Thursday 30 May – Sunday 14 July 2019

This New Zealand v Pakistan betting preview will run you through betting options for match 33 of 48 of the ICC World Cup 2019.

New Zealand v Pakistan odds:

For full markets visit the William Hill website.

HEAD TO HEAD BETTING:
New Zealand $1.62, Pakistan $2.25
Prediction: If the best Pakistan turn up the $2.25 will look like great value. With New Zealand though you know what you will get. If Guptill misses we will seriously considering a wager on Pakistan.

TOP RUN-SCORER BETTING:

New Zealand:
Top five in betting: Kane Williamson $3.50, Martin Guptill $4, Ross Taylor $4.50, Colin Munro $5.50, Henry Nicholls $5.50.

Top scorers from past five ODIs:
v West Indies: Kane Williamson 148
v South Africa: Kane Williamson 106no
v India: Match abandoned
v Afghanistan: Kane Williamson 79no
v Bangladesh: Ross Taylor 82

Pakistan:
Top five in betting: Babar Azam $3.75, Fakhar Zaman $4.50, Imam-ul-Haq $4.50, Mohammad Hafeez $6, Haris Sohail $6.

Top scorers from past five ODIs:
v South Africa: Haris Sohail 89
v India: Fakhar Zaman 62
v Australia: Imam-ul-Haq 53
v Sri Lanka: Match abandoned
v England: Mohammed Hafeez 84

Top batter prediction: If you cottoned on early days at this World Cup that it was the really good, proper batsmen firing you would have been backing NZ skipper Kane Williamson repeatedly. This guy is a gun and we’re going to go with him here. Remarkably Williamson has made successive centuries at this World Cup, but is still paying $3.50 to top score here with William Hill.
Gun Pakistan batter Babar Azam is yet to really fire, despite a well crafted innings last outing against South Africa. We think it’s time for Pakistan’s best batsman to win us some money. Yeah, also he’s an absolute class act and we love watching him bat.

TOP WICKET-TAKER BETTING:

New Zealand:
Top five in betting: Trent Boult $3.75, Lockie Ferguson $3.75, Matt Henry $4.50, Tim Southee $4.50, Ish Sodhi $5.

Top wicket-takers from past five ODIs:
v West Indies: Trent Boult 4-30
v South Africa: Lockie Ferguson 3-59
v India: Match abandoned
v Afghanistan: Jimmy Neesham 5-31
v Bangladesh: Matt Henry 4-47

Pakistan:
Top five in betting: Mohammad Amir $3.50, Wahab Riaz $4.50, Shadab Khan $4.50, Shaheen Afridi $4.50, Hasan Ali $5, Mohammad Hasnain $5.

Top wicket-takers from past five ODIs:
v South Africa: Wahab Riaz 3-46, Shadab Khan 3-50
v India: Mohammad Amir 3-47
v Australia: Mohammad Amir 5-30
v Sri Lanka: Match abandoned
v England: Wahab Riaz 3-82

Top bowler tip: We finally hit the mark with Trent Boult against the Windies with his dazzling four-wicket haul, which proved crucial in his team’s exciting win. Boult and Lockie Ferguson are both paying $3.75 to top the wickets for the Kiwis, but we’re going with the latter courtesy of his five-wicket haul against Pakistan in their last meeting, which ended in a no-result.
Picking Pakistan’s top bowler in any outing could be solved by throwing darts at balloons and seeing which one is left last, with the spread of wicket-takers massive. With one exception: we are again picking Mohammad Amir in this one. Amir tends to shine when Pakistan need him most and a must win clash against New Zealand is as big as it gets.

New Zealand v Pakistan prediction

This is going to be an absolute cracking contest with two very different thought patterns heading into it. For Pakistan it’s win or this tournament is over, while New Zealand can stitch up their semi-final berth with a victory.
Pakistan has shown it has the firepower to match it with the big guns at the tournament, but it’s just a case of which team will show up: the one that beat England or the one that was skittled for just over 100 against the Windies.
It’s this variance in Pakistan’s performance that has us predicting New Zealand to win a close one.

ALSO READ:
ICC World Cup 2019 betting guide
ICC World Cup 2019 leading wicket-taker
Cricket betting sites
ICC World Cup 2019 leading run-scorer
ICC World Cup 2019 player of tournament

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