England must win penultimate ODI v New Zealand to keep series alive
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Despite New Zealand winning the third ODI against England by three wickets and just an over to spare, Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor’s centuries made it look easy for the visitors as they now lead 2-1 in the five-match series.
As a result, Eoin Morgan and co have to claim victory (6/5 with Coral to do so) at Trent Bridge to ensure that they take the Kiwis (4/6 odds-on favourites) all the way to the final fixture at Chester-le-Street.
Morgan led the way for the hosts last time out as he hit 71 of his side’s total of 306, and the Irishman is 4/1 to be best England batsman again here.
Ben Stokes’ smash of 68 from 47 balls was the highlight of the innings, though, and the New Zealand-born all-rounder is a 6/1 chance.
Joe Root, meanwhile, continued his fine recent form by hitting 54 at number three, and the Yorkshire star tops the market at 10/3, while he is 7/2 to be top match batsman from both teams.
With the ball, David Willey capitalised on Liam Plunkett and Chris Jordan pulling out of the squad by claiming decent figures of 3-69, and the son of former England Test player Peter is 4-1 to be best bowler again for the hosts.
There is a chance, meanwhile, that England could field twins for the first time in history, as Somerset duo Jamie and Craig Overton have both been called up. They, quite fittingly, have the same price of 4/1 in the England bowler market too.
Captain Morgan is certainly positive ahead of the fourth ODI, and said: “I think 300 was a pretty good score, it probably wasn’t a match-winning score but I’m proud of the guys and the way they came out and played again in a positive mindset.
“I think for a while now we’ve always played within ourselves and always batted up before the end but for a long time we were looking like getting 350 plus and that’s exciting to see, particularly when we’re trying to change our mentality with the bat.
“300 was certainly well within the game but I think what cost us was Kane and Ross’ partnership. They played really well today and all credit to them. We’ve got a young bowling line-up and we failed to come up with something to break them up.”
Williamson and Taylor super centuries really did make it easy for the rest of New Zealand’s batters, with the other seven managing just 60 between them, and they can be backed at 10/3 and 9/2 respectively to be best Kiwi batsmen.
Tim Southee (5/2 to be best bowler for the visitors) and Ben Wheeler (4/1) impressed most with the ball, both taking three wickets to ensure England were all out with 4.2 overs to go, so back them to shine again.
Betting tip – Morgan is best England batsman @ 4/1
