Kiwis desperate to find form after going winless in last six T20Is
New Zealand v West Indies | 2nd T20I | Thursday, 6th November | Eden Park, Auckland | 08:15am
Thursday’s game between New Zealand and the West Indies is the second game of a five-match series. The West Indies won the series opener which was played at the same venue on Wednesday.
The West Indies have won each of their last three games against New Zealand.
The second game is being played back-to-back with the first, with less than 24 hours between the end of the first game and the start of the second.
New Zealand is currently the fourth ranked T20I side in the world while the West Indies are sixth.
Former Black Caps opener Martin Guptill is working as a batting consultant with the Windies team, giving them insights on local conditions and the peculiar shape of Eden Park. He is working with the team specifically for the first two games at Eden Park.
New Zealand may have lost the series opener, but they came close to winning as Mitch Santner and Jacob Duffy shared a 50-run stand for the 10th wicket, a Black Cap T20I record.
New Zealand’s top ranked batsman Tim Seifert has been ruled out of the series with a broken finger. Mitchell Hay has been called up in his place.
New Zealand is struggling for form and are winless in their last seven games having failed to register a victory in their two recent series – against England and Australia.
Windies skipper Shai Hope lived up to his billing at the highest ranked batsman in the series when he recorded the games’ top score on Wednesday with a well-played 53 from 39 balls. Hope is ranked 12th on the ICC’s T20I batting rankings.
Venue: Eden Park, Auckland
Eden Park, which is also used as a rugby venue, is famous for its peculiar diamond shape and its use of drop-in pitches. The ground’s straight boundaries are famously short.
The average first innings score at Auckland Park is 158.
The highest total recorded at the ground, which is also the highest score successfully chased, was Australia’s 245/5 in 18.5 overs, made against New Zealand in 2018.
The lowest score in a completed innings at the ground was Bangladesh’s 76 all out in 9.3 overs made against New Zealand in 2021.
The West Indies have played five T20Is at Eden Park and have won just once – the series opener on Wednesday. Prior to Wednesday’s win they lost twice and tied twice.
New Zealand has a poor record at Eden Park with just ten wins from the 31 games they have played there.
Eden Park has played host to 31 T20Is. Four of those games have ended in ties. oddly, two of those ties have been between Thursday’s opponents, New Zealand and the West Indies.
This is a good venue to lose the toss – the team that has lost the toss has won 17 games at Eden Park while the team who won the coin flip has won just nine times. The West Indies were the latest side to lose the toss and win when they triumphed on Wednesday.
In terms of results there is not much to choose between batting first or chasing. The side that bats first has won 14 games while the chasing side has won 12.
Weather:
It looks like another good day for cricket in Auckland on Thursday with the forecast suggesting a fine and warm morning followed by increasing cloud cover in the afternoon. Temperatures are forecast to reach a high of 24 degrees before dropping down to 15 in the evening. Northeasterly winds will develop during the day but despite that the chance of rain remains very low, making it a largely dry day despite the later cloud cover.
Form (most recent game first):
New Zealand: L, NR, L, NR, L
West Indies: W, W, W, W, W.
Key player:
New Zealand, Devon Conway: There’s a lot of competition for spots in the Black Cap batting and Devon Conway isn’t always first choice, but with Tim Sieffert out injured Conway has yet another opportunity to show what he is about. The South African born opener has a T20I batting average of 36.18. His numbers against the Windies are slightly better at 38,33 while on home soil he comes in even higher at 44,70. He made 13 in the opening game as he and opening partner Tim Robinson got the innings off to a solid start with 30 runs in the first three overs.
West Indies, Roston Chase: The West Indies allrounder was named man of the match in Wednesday’s game after an excellent all-round performance. The Barbadian claimed three wickets with the ball while with the bat he shared in the tourists’ two most significant partnerships (54 for the fourth wicket with Shai Hope and 49 for the fifth with Rovman Powell). Chase averages just 23,96 in T20I but he can make a big impact especially batting as high as number five. His highest T20I score is 67* and he is in good form at present, coming into the New Zealand series on the back of a well-played 50 against Bangladesh.
Verdict: New Zealand
Despite a valiant last wicket stand that brought an air of respectability to the final score, New Zealand was well beaten in the series opener. It is hard to imagine that New Zealand will make such a mess of proceedings a second game in a row. Expect them to bounce back in game two with a more compelling performance.
