PRE MATCH ANALYSIS
Follow UsThe second T20I between New Zealand and England will be played at Westpac Stadium, Wellington. The two teams have met each other 17 times in the shortest format of the game. England have the upper hand here having won 11 of these encounters to New Zealand’s five while one match was abandoned.
In the last five T20Is as well, the narrative remains the same with England leading four games to one.
Ground Detail and Team Combination
10 T20Is have been played at the Westpac Stadium, but the venue has witnessed just three T20s in the last three years, which are all international matches. The domestic matches take place at Basin Reserve while Westpac has been host to T20Is since 2006. The average first innings score since the start of 2018 here is 173 with the average run rate being 8.3.
The spinners might play a much more prominent role in this game. They have been superior in terms of keeping the runs down, average and strike more regularly compared to the pacers in T20s since 2018. It might not be a bad idea to field an extra spinner in your team.
Slow left-arm orthodox bowlers have done a magnificent job at this venue, conceding at less than seven and have managed to get a wicket every 13.5 deliveries and 15.6 runs apart. The right-arm pacers have not done too bad either, striking once every 16.4 deliveries at an average of 23.2, but concede 8.5 an over.
Bowling spinners into the attack during powerplay could prove to be a game changer as conceded at just 5.5 runs an over and have picked up a wicket every 15.6 deliveries at an impressive runs per wicket ratio of 14.4, all of which are significantly better than the pacers’ numbers
Captain Selection
Mitchell Santner picked up all three of England’s wickets to fall in the first T20I. Given that there will be some assistance for the spinners, Santner will be the perfect candidate for captaincy. Santner has also had perhaps his best year in T20Is, in which he has picked up 12 wickets at 15.83, economy rate of 6.78 and averages a healthy 22.66 lower down the order.
X-Factors
Adil Rashid has been an excellent white-ball player for England over the years and it will be his responsibility to make the perfect use of the conditions. Rashid had an injury lay-off after the 2019 World Cup and after a decent performance in the first game, he will be raring to go at Wellington. In his 17 T20 matches since 2018, Rashid has 21 scalps at 20.8 and concedes at under 7 an over.
Eoin Morgan was in excellent form at the Natwest T20 Blast 2019 where he clobbered 341 runs in just nine games, scoring at a strike rate of 168.81. He has been in excellent form this year, having scored 451 at 45.1 from 14 matches. His unbeaten 21-ball 34 in the first game was filled with eye-catching strokes and he will look to keep that up in this match as well.
Traditionally an excellent player of spin, Ross Taylor, being the senior most member of the New Zealand side needs to shoulder the responsibility of scoring runs. On a slow Christchurch wicket, Taylor top-scored for the Black Caps with 44 off 35. With the Westpac track set to have something in it for the spinners, there is no better player other than Taylor in the Kiwi camp to smother the spinners.
Weather
The weather is expected to be sunny and the skies will be clear and we should have a full game in without any interruptions.
Suggested FanFight team
Jonny Bairstow, Colin Munro, Martin Guptill, James Vince, Eoin Morgan, Ross Taylor, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Santner (c), Adil Rashid, Chris Jordan, Lockie Ferguson
