Who will win New Zealand vs Australia 2nd ODI?

After falling short by just six runs in the first one-day international at Auckland, Australia will look to make a comeback in the three-match ODI series when they face hosts New Zealand in the second game on February 2. The match will be played at the McLean Park in Napier with live action scheduled to begin at 2 PM local time.

Toss

McLean Park is not a big ground and it offers good conditions for batting which is quite evident from the fact that teams have crossed the 300-run mark nine times here. So expect a team to bat first after winning the toss. New Zealand have won 12 of their last 14 home ODIs when batting first which is why we suggest betting on them if they bat first.

New Zealand

Team News

Regular wicket-keeper Luke Ronchi is injured and he will be replaced by uncapped ODI player Tom Blundell. Ross Taylor will make his comeback in place of Jeetan Patel while the selectors have decided to rest allrounder Corey Anderson for the series.

Key Players

Martin Guptill, Ross Taylor and Kane Williamson are the stars in the Kiwi batting lineup. Guptill is averaging 67.40 in ODIs at the Eden Park with two hundreds and four fifties and so we predict him to be New Zealand’s best batsman in this match. Trent Boult is the number one ranked ODI bowler and he has taken twelve wickets from four matches at this ground. The fast bowler will present a significant threat to the Australian batters with his swing in these conditions.

Recent Form

New Zealand will be pleased with how they have been performing in the 50-overs format of late. They won 10 out of the 17 ODIs they played in 2016 which is good enough if not impressive. They recently whitewashed Bangladesh at home in a three-match series.

New Zealand Squad

KS Williamson (Captain), TA Blundell (Keeper), TA Boult, NT Broom, C de Grandhomme, LH Ferguson, MJ Guptill, MJ Henry, TWM Latham, C Munro, JDS Neesham, MJ Santner, TG Southee, LRPL Taylor.

Australia

Team News

Martin Guptill will miss the second one-day international due to a minor hamstring injury. The opening batsman is set to be replaced by the Northern Districts batsman Dean Brownlie.

Key Players

Ross Taylor and Kane Williamson, both of whom have impressive batting records at the McLean Park, will be the key players with the bat for New Zealand. Taylor averages 88.75 in ODIs here with three hundreds and three fifties and we predict him to play a big innings on Thursday. Trent Boult has taken 18 wickets against Australia in 8 ODIs. He took a couple in the first game and is likely to get a few in the second as well.

Recent Form

The win in the last match was New Zealand’s fourth consecutive in one-day internationals. They have played 10 ODIs at home since 2016 and have won 9 of them. The solitary defeat came at the hands of Australia at Wellington last year in February.

Australia Squad

MS Wade (Captain /Keeper), PJ Cummins, JP Faulkner, AJ Finch, PSP Handscomb, JR Hazlewood, TM Head, SD Heazlett, SE Marsh, GJ Maxwell, B Stanlake, MA Starc, MP Stoinis, A Zampa

Our Prediction

New Zealand

Will Win the Match

New Zealand

Will Win the Toss

Else Where

Cricketbetting

Match – New Zealand

Realsport101

Match – Australia

Ibtimes

Match – Australia