New Zealand vs England Prediction: Sweet on Boosted 5/2 Salt to get 50

Jamie Pacheco previews the 3rd IT20 between New Zealand and England played at Auckland on Thursday, with a start time of 07:15 and live on TNT Sports 1.  

Jamie is all over the boosted price on Phil Salt getting a fifty and also has a 6/1 shot for New Zealand top bowler.  Let's check out his NZ vs ENG Predictions below...

*You can check out the Cricket Odds from all of our Cricket Betting markets over on betfred.com

Match Preview:

New Zealand  

New Zealand conceded far too many against England and that scorecard of 236/4 doesn't make for good reading when you consider that class bowlers like Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Michael Bracwell…we could go on…all went at 11 or more an over.  

But that's going to happen sometimes against a side like England with some of the world's best in the likes of Jos Buttler, Phil Salt and Harry Brook to contend with, so they shouldn't feel too disheartened just because of one bad day at the office. 

Perhaps of greater concern was the poor effort with the bat. Top scores of 39 from Tim Seifert and 36 from Mitchel Santner were the best of a bad bunch, with a decent-looking middle-order not able to keep them in the game.  

James Neesham's place might be under pressure after dropping Brook early on, bowling one over for 20 and scoring just 17. Fellow all-rounders Zakary Foulkes or Bevon Jacobs could come in for him.  

England 

The thing that will really please Harry Brook and Brendon McCullum is that this wasn't necessarily the flattest of tracks, nor one with particularly small boundaries, so credit to England for batting aggressively, yet beautifully, and in a way sensibly, including playing some great shots, rather than batters just teeing off and hoping for the best.  

And yes, it shouldn't be too hard to go out and defend a huge total, but you still need to do it, and they did.  

Adil Rashid was his usual reliable self with 4-32 while Luke Wood, Brydon Carse and Liam Dawson all took two wickets each.  

They're likely to remain unchanged for this one, though we're not convinced that Tom Banton at six is a great idea in the long run, though he did play well for his 29 off 12.  

Pitch and conditions. 

We're at Auckland this time and that's not necessarily good news for the hosts, who in their last five here, going back to 2023, tied one, lost three and won just once.  

They managed 269 first up to beat Pakistan in 2023, failed to chase Australia's 174 and then 118 (DLS adjusted score) a week later in 2024, before posting 204 against Pakistan this year, which the tourists chased with surprising ease.  

It's not so easy to get one's head around recent matches here other than to say that 200 batting first is very possible, but England are more likely to do that than New Zealand.  

Match Winner Odds 

New Zealand are 5/4, implied probability of 44.4%, with England 8/13, or 61.9%.  

England were excellent the other day, but a different venue on a different day doesn't mean they're going to do it all over again and that's a pretty short price they come good again.  

As for New Zealand, it's a case of 'once bitten, twice shy'. The Kiwis cost us valuable points last time out due to their poor bowling efforts. England are justified favourites, therefore, yes, but not at that price. On we go.  

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

Price Boost - Phil Salt to score 50+ Runs @ 5/2  

ICC player rankings aren't the be-all-and-end-all all but then again, they are there for a reason and for what it's worth, the way they're designed, they really do reflect a player's achievements. For example, you'd get more points by hitting a fifty against Australia than against Zimbabwe.  

The point about all this is that Phil Salt's being ranked the Number two T20I batsman in the world is no fluke. His 49 matches have yielded four centuries and seven fifties, averaging 38.5 and striking at 168, truly elite numbers. For the record, while he has four T20I tonnes, no other Englishman has more than one.  

Even more impressive than those career numbers are his recent ones. His last five T20Is have produced scores of 141 not out, 89, 29, 3 and 89. So by all means, take the 14/5 he top-scores again, just like he did on Monday, if you're inclined that way. 

But a smarter pick is to take the Price Boost offer of 5/2 that he scores a 50. The latter is only a bit shorter than the top bat price and removes all the other England players from the equation, which is crucial. It avoids a scenario where Salt gets to 50 but then Brook comes along and gets 60.  

New Zealand Top Bowler  

This one is purely on price. Last time out New Zealand used six bowlers, Neesham only bowling the one over.  

The market makes it almost a four-horse race between Duffy, Henry, Santner and Jamieson at very similar prices. But what about Michael Bracewell?  

He's 6/1 while the others mentioned are between the 11/4 and 7/2 mark. He may get his full quota and could be just the sort of innocuous-looking bowler England batsmen decide to target, only to regret it. As ever with T20Is, we have a dead-heat in mind, and a share of the spoils would still have us in good profit.  

Jamie Pacheco Cricket P/L 2025: 

• Points Staked: 114.5 
• Points Returned: 105.41 
• Current P/L: -8.09