Cricket One Day International Prediction

New Zealand vs Sri Lanka - Match Preview

🏏 31 March 2023 - 5:00 GMT +0

New Zealand claimed an H2H record 198-run win in the first ODI against Sri Lanka before the second match was rained out, giving them a chance to claim an unassailable 2-0 series result in the third and final ODI at Hamilton. Sri Lanka was severely hampered by both the loss and the washout, meaning they now need to win the final ODI and then rely on South Africa to lose 2-0 to the Netherlands and Ireland 3-0 to Bangladesh in order to secure automatic qualification for the 2023 ODI World Cup.

The Black Caps will be immensely pleased with their progress given that they picked a largely experimental side during this series owing to many of their first-choice squad being absent for the IPL. In game one, newcomer Henry Shipley claimed ‘Player of the Match’ thanks to a stunning 5/31, while fellow rookie Blair Tickner chimed in with 2/20. In just his fourth game, Shipley ripped the life out of the Sri Lankan top order with the wickets of Kusal Mendis, Pathum Nissanka, Charith Asalanka and Dasun Shanaka.

Whilst the result of this series is not yet sealed, New Zealand has won the last three ODI series between the two sides, all of which came at home. Zooming out, the Blackcaps have triumphed in seven of their last nine series, with most of those coming against lower-ranked opposition such as Sri Lanka. The two losses suffered in that stretch were whitewashes against Australia and India.

Sri Lanka will be bitterly disappointed not only with the washout from game two but the meek manner in which their batters folded after their pacemen had managed to restrict New Zealand to a gettable 274 in game one. Only Angelo Mathews (18), Chamika Karaunaratne (11) and embarrassingly, Lahiru Kumara (10) managed to pass double figures as Sri Lanka collapsed for a paltry 76 all out.

They have now lost eleven of their last twelve away ODI series since 2016, with their only win in that period coming against lowly Scotland. Shockingly, seven of those losses have resulted in whitewashes for the home side, further illustrating how low Sri Lanka’s stocks have fallen on overseas white-ball tours.

📋 Players to watch: New Zealand allrounder Daryl Mitchell had a game to remember in the first ODI, striking a composed 47 before following it up with 2/15, which was just the third multiple wicket haul of his ODI career. Sri Lankan spin all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga will need to put in a much-improved performance from his 0/67 in game one, particularly as the team relies on him as a strike bowler. He averages a shocking 88.37 in away ODIs as opposed to just 27.35 at home.

⚡ Stat attack: New Zealand have won ten of their last 11 completed ODIs in Hamilton, including the most recent seven.

• Kusal Mendis posted single-digit scores in five of his last seven ODI innings.
• New Zealand have struck the most sixes in four of the last five H2H matches.
• Tom Latham has passed 20 just once in his last six ODI innings, with three consecutive single-digit scores.
• Blair Tickner has claimed at least one wicket in five of his last six ODIs.
• Matt Henry has 12 wickets from his six ODIs in Hamilton, averaging 18.33 at 4.66rpo.
• The average first innings score in full Hamilton ODIs is 255, climbing to 278 for the teams that win batting first.
• Six of the 11 first-inning scores of greater than 275 were successfully chased.

South Africa vs Netherlands - Match Preview

🏏 31 March 2023 - 15:00 GMT +0

A full 16 months after they contested the first ODI of this series, South Africa and the Netherlands will finally resume their three-match series on Friday at Willowmoore Park, Benoni. Due to fears over a new variant of COVID-19, the Netherlands cut short their tour in November 2021. But this series, which is part of the World Cup Super League, has two games remaining to play with South Africa still needing to win both matches to automatically qualify for the 2023 ODI World Cup.

With World Cup qualification on the line, the Proteas are taking this series very seriously. This is best illustrated by nine of their players, who have lucrative IPL contracts, playing in these two games and arriving late in India. After they were beaten by the Netherlands in the 2022 T20 World Cup, by 13 runs in Adelaide, they are certainly keen to leave nothing to chance.

South Africa has already played five ODIs at home in 2023 with an additional game against West Indies abandoned without a ball bowled. The hosts beat the current World Cup holders England 2-1 before drawing 1-1 with West Indies earlier this month. They are now playing more consistent cricket in this format after losing the home series to Pakistan in 2021 and Bangladesh in 2022.

Captain Temba Bavuma will be hoping to pass a late fitness test ahead of this game as he has been in strong form. He hit 144 runs from 118 balls in the second ODI against West Indies after making the second innings 172 in the second Test against the same opposition. Alongside Bavuma, Quinton de Kock (T20I 100) and Heinrich Klaasen (ODI 119*) have also made centuries over the last ten days.

With the ball, fast bowling pair Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada return to the ODI squad after being rested for the ODI series against West Indies. Both played two T20Is against West Indies and are expected to lead the attack in this series. Nortje has taken at least one wicket in each of his international appearances from late October onwards. In fact, the only innings in which he has gone wicketless in his last 16 appearances was a Test match where he bowled only 3.5 overs.

The Netherlands have found the going particularly tough in this inaugural World Cup Super League and they will finish bottom of the table irrespective of how these last two matches play out. They have won only three of their 22 games in this competition with two of those wins coming over Ireland and one against Zimbabwe and would have consequently been relegated to League 2 had this competition not been discontinued beyond May 2023.

Australian-born veteran Tom Cooper has been the most impressive of the Netherlands’ batters in this campaign and comes into this match with an average of 42.62 from eight innings in the World Cup Super League. With scores of 65, 66, 62, 1 and 74 from his last five ODIs, his batting will be crucial if the Netherlands are going to make it two successive wins (across all formats) against South Africa.

Logan van Beek will be a big absence for the bowling attack, as he was their leading wicket-taker in the World Cup Super League with 21 dismissals at an average of 34.14. He has domestic cricket commitments in New Zealand and leaves Fred Klaassen as the only player in the squad with 12 wickets or more in the competition. 30-year-old Klaassen has appeared for Manchester Originals in the Men’s Hundred and has 19 dismissals across this campaign, including 3-41 against Zimbabwe earlier this month.

This will be the eighth time that South Africa and the Netherlands have gone head-to-head across all formats. With the first game of this series ending as a no-result, the Netherlands will be looking to extend their unbeaten run against South Africa to three matches. However, overall, South Africa lead 5-1.

This is the first ODI at Willowmoore Park since 2016 when Ireland was beaten by Australia by nine wickets. More recently, T20Is have taken place here with the venue used for the Africa Cricket Association Cup last September. During this tournament, the average first innings score was 133 with 60% of games won by the team batting second.

📋 Players to watch: Anrich Nortje did everything in his power to prevent the embarrassing defeat against the Netherlands in the T20 World Cup last year and returned figures of 1-10 from his four overs. In his two ODIs earlier this year against England, the pace bowler took six wickets and he has a strike rate of 26.4 in this format.

Tom Cooper hit three half-centuries in a row against Pakistan last summer and was also a key contributor in the win over South Africa in Adelaide where he hit 35 runs from 19 balls. He averages 47.03 from 30 innings in this format and is yet to register a duck after making his ODI debut back in 2010.

⚡ Stat attack: There has been a centurion for South Africa in four of their five completed ODIs in 2023.

• South Africa has bowled out the opposition in seven of their last 15 ODIs.
• Of the 13 highest individual scores in South Africa v the Netherlands ODIs, 12 have come from South African players.
• Fred Klaassen has a bowling average of 16.25 against South Africa in both formats compared to an overall career average of 23.14.
• Temba Bavuma in home ODIs in 2023: 36, 109, 35, 144.
• In 11 home ODIs, Anrich Nortje has a strike rate of 21.0 and has never gone wicketless.