England v New Zealand ODI Series: Kiwis to hammer weak England

Ed Hawkins
04 June 2015

Brendon McCullum will feature heavily for New Zealand in these one day international games

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Ed Hawkins previews the five-match one-day series which starts on Tuesday and says England could be humiliated by a powerful New Zealand side...

"Eoin Morgan, who will lead the side, will feel like a teacher on the first day of primary school when he turns up to take the first net session. By contrast, New Zealand have a squad which can boast almost twice the number of ODI caps."

The phrase 'be careful what you wish for' could be pertinent for England's five-match one-day series against New Zealand, which starts at Edgbaston on Tuesday.

Before, during and after the disastrous World Cup campaign, the calls for England to chuck out the tried, and admittedly not trusted, regular starters have been loud and persistent. The selectors have finally listened, picking an inexperienced squad to take on the runners-up in the global tournament.

There is no Ian Bell, James Anderson or Stuart Broad. The all-round abilities of Moeen Ali and Ravi Bopara, who was unfortunate not to be given a chance down under, have been dispensed with. James Tredwell's nous with the ball is not required either.

Instead England have named a squad which includes four players - Sam Billings, Jason Roy, Mark Wood and David Willey - who have played a single ODI each. Chris Jordan, Alex Hales, Adil Rashid, and Ben Stokes, who have played 62 games between them, will be considered senior men.

It is about as close as a cricket team could get to a suicide mission. For England to take on the world's second best ODI side, one which has just pummelled their bowlers in a Test match as a sign of their thrilling, aggressive intent, with a bunch of ingénues is guaranteed to end in failure.

Eoin Morgan, who will lead the side, will feel like a teacher on the first day of primary school when he turns up to take the first net session. By contrast, New Zealand have a squad which can boast almost twice the number of ODI caps.

Of course we are not saying that each of the players England have jettisoned should have been picked. But it might not have been a bad idea to have had one from Anderson or Broad around to pass on advice. Bopara could have assisted the all-rounders. Tredwell could have passed on wisdom to Rashid, who at 28, has still not learned the art of control.

To quote Alan Partridge, which seems apt given the almost certain impending disaster, England have gone for "revolution not evolution". It should be the other way round. New players take time to bed in and they are more likely to succeed in a settled environment. This will be survival of fittest with every man out for himself.

New Zealand would have been maximum bet territory had even England picked more experienced players. Just after England announced their squad, the Kiwis were a value-busting 1.608/13 for victory. They are now 1.434/9. So has the value gone?

No. Because New Zealand will win. In this game one is taught never to make definitive statements. Any prediction is laced with caveats using words like 'could', should' and 'might'. So it is a break from the norm to so boldly claim that New Zealand will, definitively, win the series.

It is impossible to understand how there could be any other outcome. They are a powerful, smart, finely honed squad of players who should not even have to get out of second gear to beat this rabble.

The brilliant men who just fell short of claiming an extraordinary victory for New Zealand in the World Cup are all present and correct: Brendon McCullum, the master blaster, Martin Guptill, the top runscorer in the tournament, Grant Elliott, hero of the semi-final and, of course, the potent pace attack of Trent Boult, Tim Southee and Mitchell McClenaghan.

Indeed, we are so confident that instead of a normal £10-level stakes mantra (which you will spot in the profit-loss box below), we are prepared to treble that. Henceforth that's why you will see the line 'unless otherwise stated' in that box.

The only possible impediment to handing out the sort of thrashing which will result in prolonged navel gazing by England, and the wish that they had rebuilt their squad with a little more patience, is the weather.

That is our chief concern about backing the Kiwis at 10.09/1 to inflict a 5-0 whitewash. We don't have a crystal ball to forecast the weather for the matches which follow the first in Birmingham. So far for game one it looks pretty good.

Currently New Zealand are 1.664/6 for that one. If they were to be that price for every single game we would remortgage. But they won't. They will probably be going off closer to their series price for each game once they assert superiority.

Backing New Zealand to win 4-0 will be popular at 7.06/1 because of weather worries. So too will 4-1 at, fittingly, 4.1. But England will surely need assistance from a bowler-friendly wicket and a correct toss call. Perhaps the last ODI, with New Zealand taking their foot off the gas, at the Riverside in Durham offers that opportunity.

Recommended Bets

Back New Zealand to win ODI series at 1.434/9
Back New Zealand to win 5-0 at 10.09/1