England Vs. New Zealand Cricket
England has been going through a rough patch lately, but on Thursday they will have to put all of that behind them, and focus on the field as they have a great challenge ahead of them when they meet the confident team of New Zealand in the two Test confrontations. The first test will start tomorrow, Thursday, while the other one starts on May 29, which will take place at Headingly.
The news surrounding the match and the world of English Cricket was dominated by the appointment of Andrew Strauss as the new director of Cricket, as well as the sacking of the old coach, Peter Moores, in addition, the still effective exile of Kevin Pietersen, the batsman, which is for trust issues.
This week’s clash between England and New Zealand at Lord’s should allow the team to put all of that behind them and focus more on field business where they will be coached by Paul Frabrace on an interim basis so they can handle the New Zeeland team so they can build a good momentum to help them regain the Ashes once again this summer.
The continued exile of Pietersen means that the middle order of the English Team will remain the same, the only different thing is that Joe Root, the Cricketer of the year, will be the vice captain besides his batting duties. Alastair Cook the skipper will start with a fresh faced opener beside him, Adam Lyth who was chosen in order to fill in the place of Jonathan Trott who has quit cricket internationally following the tour of West Indies. Also, James Anderson is expected to appear in the match, which will be his 104th Test, and he could also be achieving his 400 Test Wickets at the end, this is because he is currently only 3 scalps away from achieving that milestone. Of course, taking on the batsmen of New Zealand will not be that easy, especially with Brendom McCullum charge after his stellar World Cup performance and his amazing run in Test cricket matches.
The Black Caps did not lost a Test series since they lost against England nearly 2 summers ago as they have beat West Indies, India and Sri Lanka along the way, so it should be a great match and more than just a warm up before the Ashes for all those who are involved.
Ladbrokes certainly thinks that England has the better odds, as it offers odds for England to win of 6/5, while the odds for a New Zealand Victory is at 9/4, which are the same odds for a draw. The odds from another operator, William Hill are close, as the odds for England to win is 11/8, while the odds for a New Zealand win is 7/4, while it offers the same odds for a draw, 9/4. So it seems that the odds are in the favor of England, but not with a landslide, as they are still pretty close.
