England coach Trevor Bayliss is not a fan of international T20 cricket outside of World Cups. That sounds like sour grapes after his team failed to qualify for the final of the Tri-Nations Series with Australia and New Zealand, even though they won their final match against the Kiwis.
Bayliss thinks that there will be more and more players prepared to concentrate on white-ball cricket after spinner Adil Rashid announced that he won’t play in Yorkshire’s County Championship fixtures or for England in Test matches over the next 12 months and Alex Hales has followed suit with regard to Nottinghamshire – this is a trend that is likely to grow in popularity. The problem is that T20 games are now an established part of the international scene and hugely popular with fans who wouldn’t necessarily have the patience to sit through a Test match or even a 50-overs match.
There is little between New Zealand and England in the current ODI ranking – fourth and third respectively – and there wasn’t much separating the teams in the two T20 matches they played in the Tri-Nations so I can’t see how William Hill can justify having Eoin Morgan’s men at 8/15 to win their upcoming best-of-five series. New Zealand offer much more value at 6/4 as the fact that they have home advantage seems to have been overlooked.
You could argue that conditions in New Zealand are not that different from an English summer (minus Cyclone Gita) and England will be boosted by the return of both Joe Root and Ben Stokes. However, New Zealand have two bowlers – Trent Boult and Mitchell Santner – among the current top 10 in the ODI rankings whereas England have none. They also have three batsmen – captain Kane Williamson, Martin Guptill and Ross Taylor – in the top 13 and all are potential match-winners. Root is England’s only batsman among the top 10 though Chris Woakes, Stokes and Moeen Ali all figure towards the top of the all-rounder rankings.
The last time these two teams played out a one-day series was in 2015 when England edged a 3-2 victory on home soil. But New Zealand had won three of the previous four series between the sides, though it was England who came out on top in last year’s Champions Trophy at a wind-swept Cardiff.
Williamson is the key figure for the Kiwis and will be targeted, though the loss of Liam Plunkett to injury is a blow for England. New Zealand will want to see Root back in the pavilion as soon as possible as he was key in his side’s 4-1 thumping of Australia earlier this winter. The hosts are 5/2 to win the series 3-2 with William Hill and England are 7/4 to triumph by the same score – it is likely to be close.
