New Zealand vs Australia Prediction: Openers to do the damage

There was a complete washout in the second T20 on Friday meaning Australia retain the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy, but New Zealand have the chance to level the series on Saturday.

Dan Thomas previews the third and final clash, live on TNT Sport from 07:15, as he brings us his New Zealand vs Australia predictions…

Cricket Odds

New Zealand

New Zealand made three changes to their side for the second T20 as Ben Sears returned, Ish Sodhi became their most-capped men’s T20I, and Jimmy Neesham came into the XI.

Rain in the afternoon and a wet outfield forced a delayed start and a reduction in overs, with the match trimmed to 18 per side and a shortened PowerPlay (5.2 overs).

The Black Caps tried to exploit the earlier overcast conditions after winning the toss and putting Australia in, with Matt Henry and Jacob Duffy both getting the ball to swing, but only 1.2 overs were bowled before the match was abandoned as the rain returned.

Australia

Australia made one change for Friday’s match, bringing in medium pacer Sean Abbott for Ben Dwarshuis.

When play finally got under way, they lost Travis Head early to Jacob Duffy, and had reached 16 for 1 in 1.2 overs when rain again intervened. Mitch Marsh still found the time to hit one huge six into the crowd.

With the game abandoned, Australia retained the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy, having already won the series opener.

Pitch & conditions

The Bay Oval pitch looked a good one for batting in the first T20, but the moisture on Friday gave the bowlers plenty of assistance in the second match. More rain is expected on Saturday afternoon, but it should clear by the evening so hopefully we can get a match completed, even if it’s a reduced overs one.

New Zealand vs Australia Odds

A slight change to the match odds for this one, with the weather in mind, with Australia at 2/5 from to 4/11 for Friday’s clash, and the Kiwis clipped in to 15/8 from 2/1.

Devon Conway heads the market for top New Zealand batter at 14/5, with Tim Seifert at 10/3 and Tim Robinson a 4/1 shot to repeat his top scoring efforts from the first T20. For the Aussies, Head and Marsh are the joint favourites at 13/5, with Tim David and Matthew Short next up at 4/1 and 9/2 respectively.

Henry and Duffy are the joint favourites to take most wickets for the Kiwis, at 11/4, with Josh Hazelwood and Adam Zampa topping the market for the visitors, at 11/4 and 3/1 respectively.

Best bets

With a shortened match on the cards, it generally pays to focus on the players at the top of the order so, with that in mind, we’ll back Tim Seifert to top score for New Zealand again. He went cheaply in the first T20 but still has a win rate in this market of around 50% so there’s some juice in the price of 10/3.

We’ll also back Mitch Marsh to beat his runs line of 25.5 - he’s hit 264 runs in 10 T20 innings this year at an average of nearly 30 and enjoyed the short boundaries at the Bay Oval in the first match.