New Zealand v Sri Lanka preview, player tips & predictions

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MATCH INFO
New Zealand v Sri Lanka
Venue: Sophia Gardens
Best Odds: New Zealand ($1.30); Sri Lanka ($3.50)

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New Zealand is heavy favourite to begin its ICC World Cup campaign in style, with bookmakers installing it at $1.30 to defeat Sri Lanka at Sophia Gardens on Saturday.

But the Kiwis will need to bring their A-game against the $3.50 priced Sri Lankans, who still have several quality players capable of single-handedly swinging a match.

We believe the Kiwis are a threat to progress far in the championship of one-day cricket, with their dangerous batting and good mix of bowling set to be favoured by the conditions and small grounds in England and Wales.

While Sri Lanka has a grand history at the World Cup (who can forget that remarkable win in 1996), the team at this year’s tournament is a far cry from those heady days, and they are expected to be fodder for some of the better teams.

While our New Zealand Sri Lanka prediction ultimately has the Kiwis winning, we believe there is some great value to be found for both teams in this contest.

New Zealand v Sri Lanka odds

All of our New Zealand vs Sri Lanka odds were taken from William Hill and were correct at time of publishing. Visit the WilliamHill.com website for live odds, including in-play markets.

Head to head betting:

New Zealand: $1.30
Sri Lanka: $3.50

Top run scorer betting odds:

New Zealand: Kane Williamson $4, Martin Guptill $4.33, Ross Taylor $4.50, Henry Nicholls $5.50

Sri Lanka: Kusal Mendis $4.50, Angelo Mathews $5, Dimuth Karunaratne $5, Kusal Perera $5.50, Avishka Fernando $6

Top wicket taker odds:

New Zealand: Trent Boult $3.75, Lockie Ferguson $4.50, Matt Henry $4.50, Ish Sodhi $5, Mitch Santner $5.50

Sri Lanka: Lasith Malinga $3.75, Suranga Lakmal $4.50, Isuru Udana $5, Nuwan Pradeep $5, Jeffrey Vandersay $5.50

New Zealand v Sri Lanka tips & best bets

In the days leading up to each ICC World Cup match we will give you our best bet and tips for each match. Bookmark our ICC World Cup previews page to keep up to date.

Which team will score the most sixes?

Many of the bigger cricket betting sites are framing markets on which team will score the most sixes for the Sri Lanka v New Zealand match. While the Kiwis are short priced at $1.66 to win this market, we believe they are an absolute lock. The Kiwis have plenty of big-hitters including Ross Taylor and Martin Guptill, while the Sri Lankan batting line-up has been out of sorts. You can place this bet at WilliamHill.com.

Kane Williamson to score most runs & NZ win

This is a good market to inject some more value into your bets on the New Zealand team. The Kiwi skipper is likely to be the “glue” in their batting line-up, which means he will try to bat for long periods, while the other batsman will try to up the tempo. At some point in this tournament, and we don’t see why it won’t be against Sri Lanka, Williamson will top score for the Kiwis and they will win. You can place this bet at WilliamHill.com from both New Zealand and Sri Lanka.

New Zealand v Sri Lanka prediction

Our final match prediction for New Zealand vs Sri Lanka is for a convincing victory to the Kiwis. They simply have too many match-winners for the rebuilding Sri Lankans. You won’t find much value with the online betting sites in head to head betting in this one unless you fancy the Sri Lankans, but we are tipping New Zealand.

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