Who will win New Zealand vs South Africa 1st Test?
The three-match test series between New Zealand and South Africa gets underway from March 8 at the University Oval, Dunedin. The first test is scheduled to begin at 11 AM local time each day.
NZ vs SA 1st Test: Where to watch/Live streaming
TV channels: Supersport, Sky Sport 1, Fox Sports 2
Live streaming: Bet365, Sky Go, Foxtel Go
Toss Prediction
There have been a total of 7 test matches at the University Oval till date and the team winning the toss has elected to bowl first 6 times. The ground has produced four very good first-innings scores in the past and the pitch for this match is expected to be a good one for batting. So the the toss-winning team may look to go against the general trend of fielding first. We predict South Africa to win the toss and bat first here.
Read on for team previews, betting tips, latest odds and match prediction for 1st Test of NZ vs SA ....
New Zealand Team News & Playing 11
Team News
Opening batsman Martin Guptill has not found a place in New Zealand's test squad despite returning to form in the ODI series. The rest of the lineup is expected to remain the same and there are no injuries in the side.
Key Players
Ross Taylor is averaging 78.14 in tests at Dunedin. He is the leading run-scorer for NZ at this ground in this format with 547 runs which includes a hundred and a couple of fifties. He therefore will be his team's biggest hope with the bat. Wagner, Boult and Southee all have impressive figures here, sharing 41 wickets between them. These three seamers will be the biggest challenge for the South African batsmen.
Recent Form
New Zealand will come into this match with a 2-0 whitewash over Pakistan and Bangladesh in their recent home test series. So after losing four tests in a row which includes a 0-3 bashing in India last year, NZ are once again back on track with four consecutive victories.
New Zealand Predicted Playing 11
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JA Raval, TWM Latham, KS Williamson (c), LRPL Taylor, HM Nicholls, MJ Santner, James Neesham, BJ Watling (wk), TG Southee, TA Boult, N Wagner.
South Africa Team News & Playing 11
Team News
South Africa will miss the services of their star batsman AB de Villiers who has decided to take a break from test cricket this year. However, the team's bowling attack has been bolstered with the return of pace bowlers Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel.
Key Players
Amla, du Plessis and de Kock are the ones that SA will expect a big innings from. Amla has a fifty in South Africa's only test match at Dunedin and we predict him to score the most runs for his side in this match. Philander took five wickets in that match including a four-wicket haul and he will be a key man with the ball along with Morkel and Rabada.
Recent Form
South Africa have recently found plenty of success in the longest format, both at home as well as overseas. They defeated Sri Lanka in their last home test series where they won each game by a huge margin and even humbled Australia on their turf before that.
South Africa Predicted Playing 11
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SC Cook, D Elgar, HM Amla, JP Duminy, F du Plessis (c), T Bavuma, Q de Kock (wk), VD Philander, Morne Morkel, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada.
Team Form in Last Five Matches (most recent first)
New Zealand: W W W W L
South Africa: W W W L W
New Zealand vs South Africa 1st Test Head to Head
South Africa are clearly the stronger of the two teams in terms of overall head-to-head statistics in test cricket. They have won 24 out of the 42 matches against New Zealand and have lost just 4. The remaining 14 matches have all resulted in a draw. The University Oval has so far staged only one test match between these two sides back in March 2012 which ended in a draw.
New Zealand vs South Africa 1st Test Betting Odds
New Zealand have played 7 test matches at Dunedin and have not lost even once. But despite their good record at this ground, the hosts are still outsiders for this game at 3.8 with betfair, 3.75 with bet365 and 3.60 with betway. South Africa stole the show in the one-off T20, won the ODI series and have been very impressive in tests as well, beating Australia in Australia recently. The tourists therefore start as favorites to win this first test at 2.1 with betfair, 2.05 with bet365 and 1.61 with betway. A draw is up at 3.8 with betfair, 3.75 with bet365 and 3.60 with betway.
New Zealand vs South Africa 1st Test Prediction
After an intense ODI series, one can expect an equally well contested test series between these two nations. South Africa and New Zealand have both done well in the longest version of late and they will be coming into this match off the back of home series wins over Sri Lanka and Bangladesh respectively.
However, the Kiwis last won a test match against the Proteas 13 years ago at Auckland. And since then, the two teams have met 13 times in this format with South Africa winning on 9 occasions. So this will definitely give the visitors an upper hand and is one of the main reasons why we predict them to win this first test. Having said that, there have been 4 draws out of the 7 tests at Dunedin. So if you are not confident enough of a South African victory, you would be better off placing your bet on a draw.
Final Verdict: Back South Africa to beat New Zealand in the first test at 2.1 with betfair, 2.05 with bet365 and 1.61 with betway.
Mar 08, 2017
03:30 IST / 2:00 GMT
University Oval - Dunedin, New Zealand
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