England to take out Champions Trophy frustrations on Kiwis

After the bitter disappointment of failing to quench their limited overs trophy-drought in the ICC Champions Trophy final last time out, England will not be in the best frame of mind to claim victory in the first T20 against New Zealand.

The Lions and Kiwis will lock horns for the umpteenth time this year, though the tourists’ underdog rating may be worth a punt to some at 1/1.

The Black Caps aren’t the most formidable of T20 units, but morale has to be low in England’s limited overs camp having missed out on an a maiden tournament win by the mere margin of five runs against India.

In the T20 series contested in New Zealand earlier this year, England – available to back at 4/5 with Ladbrokes – claimed a 2-1 victory, so Brendan McCullum’s men will have revenge on their mind. In addition to this, they’re also vying to complete a limited overs double over their hosts, having prevailed in the sides’ ODI series prior to the Champions Trophy.

However, placing faith in a New Zealand win would be doing so on the back of a speculative argument, with the stats mounting up in favour of a heavy England victory.

When the nations previously collided in the game’s shortest format the Kiwis failed to register a single wicket, which helped to stretch their poor run in T20I’s to four losses from six.

The England pace attack is what proved their undoing during their latest T20 tussle, as it has done all summer thus far.

The quicks dominated the scorecard when the country’s duelled in the southern hemisphere, with an incredible 20 of the 23 total wickets taken coming via their hand, while captain Stuart Broad has filled his boots with 10 scalps in his last four T20 outings.

Another interesting stat for those who like to wager on who will win the toss, the hosts haven’t savoured the outcome they desired in three of their previous four T20I’s.

All odds and markets accurate as of publication’s time and date