New Zealand vs England Prediction: Ravindra can help Black Caps to back-to-back wins

Our cricket tipster Jamie Pacheco previews the 2nd ODI between New Zealand and England played at Hamilton on Wednesday, with a start time of 01:00 and live on TNT Sports 1.  

Jamie was impressed with the Black Caps’ performance on Sunday and sees no reason why they’re considerable outsiders here, so that’s his first bet, with Rachin Ravindra to top score for New Zealand, the other.  You can see why and all of Jamie's thoughts in our New Zealand vs England Prediction for the 2nd ODI here on Betfred Insights...

*You can check out all of our Cricket Odds over at betfred.com

1st ODI Recap  

The first game was one of the strangest ODIs you'll ever see.  

Six of England's Top seven were out for single figures, yet Harry Brook scored 135 off 101 balls.  

New Zealand won the match, but Brook was Player of the Match; you'll be lucky to see a player from the losing side pick up the match gong more than once every 30 games.  

New Zealand can boast Matt Henry and Jacob Duffy in their ranks, yet all-rounder Zakary Foulkes dismissed three of England's Top 4.  

In a game where most of New Zealand's batters got going, Kane Williamson, normally the best of the lot, was out for a golden duck.  

And that's without even mentioning that all records suggested 300 was a reasonable target for batting first, yet England were fortunate to get to 223,. And NZ, on another day, may have come short. We could go on.  

Sadly, we had Williamson down for 33 runs or more and Jos Buttler for England bat, and neither came close, so plenty of work ahead for us.   

New Zealand  

The Kiwis can be proud of their efforts on Sunday, bowling beautifully, catching everything, rotating the bowlers well and then recovering from an early blip to build good partnerships. And by scoring quickly, the run rate was never an issue, though they probably lost one or two wickets more than they would have liked in getting to the target.  

Zakary Foulkes in just his second ODI was excellent with 4-41 off, Daryl Mitchell played a priceless knock of 78 off 91, while Michael Bracewell, who bizarrely didn't bowl at all, also contributed with a vital 51 off 51.  

All in all, it was a typical New Zealand performance, with everyone contributing and the team as a whole being worth more than the sum of their parts.  

No reason why they shouldn't play the same team again.  

England 

The obvious takeaway would be to suggest England's batting was a shambles and that had it not been for Brook, they may well have been all out for little more than 100.  

But there was some brilliant new-ball bowling from the Kiwis, excellent catches by both keeper and fielders, and some assistance from the pitch. Then again, if it happens again, there may really be a problem here.  

It would be unlike England to change the batting order so soon, though, so Tom Banton, the only specialist batsman in the squad who didn't play on Sunday, may have to wait his turn.  

The bowlers did their bit to try to defend an under-par score, with Brydon Carse particularly good with 3-45, but the rest were all relatively expensive.  

Jofra Archer arrived late to the camp but is available now. He'd obviously provide a boost to their bowling, but the question is rather whether he's fit and ready to play.  

Pitch and conditions

We're at Hamilton this time. First things first, what's the forecast like? There may be some showers in the morning but nothing too bad so we should not only get a completed match but the full 50 overs a side. 'Should.' 

New Zealand has an excellent record here. They've played 36 (33 completed) and won 26, losing just seven. That's an almost barely believable 78%-win rate here and includes winning nine of their last 10 here, the other one rained off. 

In the last three they chased Sri Lanka's 158 with ease, defended 255 against the same opponents comfortably and then set Pakistan 292, easily defended.   

The average run rate here is 5.31, so we should expect a first-inning total of around 250-300. With 275 on the board first up, you'd probably make it a 50/500 game at the break.  

Match Winner Odds 

New Zealand were impressive on Sunday, doing everything just that little bit better than England. But that shouldn't come as any big surprise. Whereas England are at their best on flat tracks where they can outscore their opponents with the bat, NZ are a cannier, cuter, more versatile ODI team, especially in tricky conditions.  

So why are they 11/8 here (42%) when they were 6/5 (45.5%) ahead of the first one, which they won?  

No, I don't know either but here's what I do know.  If New Zealand were a bet at 11/8 ahead of playing at a ground where they had a win rate of around 50%, they're certainly a bet at a ground where they've won 78% of their ODIs.  

England, for the record, are 4/7, 63%.  

*For all the latest and live New Zealand vs England Odds then head over to betfred.com 

New Zealand Top Batsman   

There are players with some pretty healthy ODI averages involved in this match for the Black Caps. Williamson (49), Mitchell (50), Will Young (39) and even Tom Latham (34) to name but four.   

But at 9/2, you can back a player who is a bigger price than any of them bar Latham (also 9/2), and who opens the batting, so is guaranteed a bat, while others may not get the same sort of chance batting down the order. Rachin Ravindra averages 43 and scored 78 in the only time he batted at Hamilton, so he's got plenty going for him. And he's certainly a surprisingly big price at 9/2.  

Jamie Pacheco Cricket P/L 2025:

• Points Staked: 114.5 
• Points Returned: 105.41 
• Current P/L: -12.59 

Jamie Pacheco predominantly covers Cricket and European Football for us at Betfred Insights. You can check out his Cricket Betting Tips, along with those from the rest of the team, at our Cricket hub page...