England v New Zealand First Test Odds

England v New Zealand First Test Odds for this weeks first England New Zealand Test at Lords have England as clear Odds on favourites to win against what appears to be a weak Kiwi side. Unless betting in favour of NZ, the odds are unattractive so backers would be better looking at the player performance and runs markets that offer a number of attractive, creative options.

Since 2000 the Lords wicket has become a batting one, gone are the days when teams were skittled out for embarrassingly low scores. It was in 2004, when the change in the wicket became most evident. Coincidentally, England were playing New Zealand in the first test of their tour at that time. NZ made a solid first innings total of nearly 400, that England replied to with 441, all this by the end of third day. Normally most Test wickets become bowler friendly by the 4th day, but not on this occasion. New Zealand went back in to bat, set England a challenging 282 to win, fully expecting the wicket to crumble on the final day. The Kiwis ended up disappointed and England scored freely to win the Test.

There is no reason to think that the wicket will be anything other than benign this time either, particularly with the hot weather. So the toss should not dictate the outcome of the test as it so often has. Both teams should be capable of managing at least one high score. Backers are therefore advised to look at the runs betting and invest in a top batsman bet. They should also remember that the last four Lord’s Tests have ended in high scoring draws!

Odds courtesy of Paddy Power - Claim a £30 Free Bet

Current top English Batsman odds, have Kevin Pietersen as favourite at 3/1, Alistair Cook 7/2, Ian Bell 9/2, Michael Vaughan and Andrew Strauss are both 5/1 shots. Top Kiwi batsman, Ross Taylor is quoted at 7/2. All odds are available from this site.

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