Black Caps to complete series whitewash at Trent Bridge

England face Martin Guptill… sorry, New Zealand in the final game of this three match series on Wednesday. 

Racking up back-to-back centuries, including a record breaking 189 not out at the Rose Bowl, the opener has propelled the Kiwis to two straightforward victories so far.

The Aucklander is obviously in red-hot form and his price of 3/1 to be the top NZ run scorer, although short seems sensible.

If the host nation is to gain a semblance of revenge at Trent Bridge, then they may have to delve into their pace reserves as Stuart Broad and Steven Finn are unlikely to return from injury while, Jade Dernbach and Chris Woakes have struggled.

But it is not just the bowling department that is giving Ashley Giles headaches.

It wasn’t too long ago that Michael Vaughan was opening the batting for England in the 2007 World Cup, building a Test match like innings, whereas other countries were coming out all guns blazing.

England got ridiculed then for their outdated approach but a glance at the top six’s strike rates in this series show that the issue remains. Obviously the absence of the injured Kevin Pietersen is a major factor but when Jimmy Anderson is statistically the fastest scorer you know you are in trouble.

Alastair Cook, Ian Bell, Jonathan Trott and Joe Root are all gifted technical players but lack the brutality needed to dictate terms in the modern game, meaning England are finding themselves behind the eight ball on a regular basis.

With England’s struggles set to continue and all the momentum leaning in favour of the Black Caps, a price of 5/4 has to be snapped up.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing