Match Previews / Ed Hawkins / 02 March 2011 /

Ed Hawkins has been looking forward to this contest in the early hours of Friday in Ahmedabad. Here's why... Follow him on Twitter here

London start time: 04.00

Team news
New Zealand coach John Wright came under fire for playing the extra batsman against Australia in the shape of Jamie How instead of allrounder Jacob Oram. Paceman Kyle Mills also felt aggrieved so the Black Caps have options.

They were grateful to Nathan McCullum and Daniel Vettori for getting them out of a dreadful hole against the Aussies but they were still comprehensively beaten inside 35 overs.

Zimbabwe showed good form by hammering Canada by 175 runs. Tatendu Taibu made 98 and Craig Ervine 85.

Venue and conditions
The Ahmedabad surface was sluggish in the one game played there so far when Australia crawled to 262 against Zimbabwe, who were bowled out for 171. And from that game it was clear that chasing will be difficult. A tacky surface is just what Zimbabwe will be hoping for.

Match odds
We've been waiting for this one. Although it can often backfire to identify a wager some time before the off, we have not seen anything from either New Zealand or Zimbabwe so far in the tournament that puts us off. Back the Zims at [6.00].

The Kiwis, not including the match against Kenya, of course, have horrible recent form and they were totally outclassed by Australia. Their batting is low on confidence and there is nothing Zimbabwe should fear with the ball.

The key man for Zimbabwe is likely to be the ferociously competitive spinner Ray Price. Price opened the bowling against Australia and did a superb job, going for just over four an over. He is capable of causing panic in the Kiwi batting.

Top batsman - New Zealand
Brendon McCullum shares favourite status with Martin Guptill at [4.00]. Neither man inspires confidence. Indeed, Super Mac is far from super value. He is consistently overrated and with an average of 28 in ODIs his record is mediocre. A better wager might be Scott Styris at [10.00].

Top batsman - Zimbabwe
The Zims have batting talent, that's for sure. Taibu, who is [5.00], and Ervine at [5.00] made headlines recently but Brendan Taylor is a class act and goes off at [4.00].

Featured market
On a difficult surface getting under highest individual score of 82.5 at around [2.00] should make plenty of appeal.

Best bet: Zimbabwe to beat New Zealand at [6.00]

'.$sign_up['title'].'

'; } } ?>

:

:

:

?

: