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McCullum a decent bet to top score in a very close contest

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The Hawkeye view - Ed Hawkins previews tomorrow morning's Twenty20 encounter between England and New Zealand and tells us about the standout bets on offer

ASIDE from the obvious delight that picking a winner brings, as punters the second most satisfying experience is the prospect of two evenly matched teams going head to head. And then of course getting it right.

That is the potential prospect when New Zealand and England meet in two Twenty20 internationals, the first of which starts in Auckland in the wee hours tomorrow, and then a five-game one-day international series.

Early prices for the Twenty20 series betray the closely matched nature with the hosts currently available to back at [3.15] and England only slighter bigger at [3.65] in the two-match series.

It really would be a salivating contest were it not for the fact that the two sides are so close to each other in terms of ability because both are not very good.

New Zealand have lost their last two Twenty20 contests and despite making the semi-finals of the World Twenty20 in South Africa in September, they have shown little appetite for the thrash and bash.

And as for England, well, their debut in the format must rate as one of the cruellest false dawns for some time. They hammered Australia at the Rose Bowl in 2004 by 100 runs. Since then they have won only twice in ten attempts and one of those came against Zimbabwe.

So it is probably for the best that both teams have changed personnel quite dramatically in the format lately.

New Zealand have lost Stephen Fleming, Craig McMillan and Shane Bond to retirement - the latter enforced by the New Zealand Cricket Board - while Lou Vincent has been dropped.

Bond is obviously a huge loss but the clearout makes it difficult to predict which batsman is likely to come to the fore as the replacement for Fleming as the key man.

If one goes through the batsmen who have top scored in all of the Kiwis'13 Twenty20 matches it is rather frustrating to discover that four players who are responsible for taking honours in six matches will not be present. Brendon McCullum, who will play, is next best with two top bat efforts.

So it is necessary to look at how New Zealand's current crop have been performing domestically for an edge.

Daniel Vettori could have been a bit of value given that he has opened for his Northern Districts and finished as the fourth highest runscorer overall. Unfortunately he is out with an ankle injury.

Above him are two names which come to the rescue. Ross Taylor has outscored everyone batting at No 3 for Central Districts with 290 runs and behind him in second is team-mate Jamie How with 195. Big-hitter Jacob Oram should not be discounted, either, especially if England's bowlers make early inroads.

England's list of top runscorers in Twenty20 matches shows how their line-up has changed, too. Of the best bats in their 11 games only three survive - Kevin Pietersen, Owais Shah and Paul Collingwood. Pietersen is likely to attract most of the cash but bear in mind he has top scored only once for England in this format.

Batting may not be that easy anyway. The statistics suggest that runscoring in Twenty20 is tougher in New Zealand than in the same competition in England.

The average first-innings score in the State Twenty20 is 151 compared to an average of around 160 in England. Only one team has made more than 200, too. There is also a slight bias for sides batting second with nine winners from 16 bowling first.

For that reason we shouldn't expect runs. Indeed New Zealand's average score is 149, which fits nicely with the average scores on home soil. And England manage a healthier 164.

A price that looks like a surefire winner is the [1.41] that there are nine sixes or more in the game. The average in matches at Auckland this term is a whopping 12. There's nothing close about that.

• Cricket
• Twenty20