Old Trafford, Manchester is the venue for the first of the Cricket World Cup semi finals which sees India clash with New Zealand on Tuesday.

 

 

 

Before we look at the first of the semi finals let’s take in a quick outright betting update.

 

Cricket World Cup, To Win the Tournament

India 18/10

England 21/10

Australia 5/2

New Zealand 9/1

Click here for all CWC markets.

 

India:

Rohit Sharma scored his fifth century of the tournament as India beat Sri Lanka by 7 wickets on Saturday. That victory saw India finish top of the log at the end of the round robin stage with an overall record of 7 wins, 1 no result and 1 defeat. Their only loss came against England in Match 38 and by then India were well on their way to the semi finals. Two of India’s games were staged in Manchester and they delivered comfortable victories over West Indies and Pakistan.

Results: South Africa (won by 6 wickets), Australia (won by 36 runs), New Zealand (no result), Pakistan (won by 89 runs), Afghanistan (won by 11 runs), West Indies (won by 125 runs), England (lost by 31 runs), Bangladesh (won by 28 runs), Sri Lanka (won by 7 wickets).

Top Run Scorers: Rohit Sharma 647, Virat Kohli 442, Lokesh Rahul 360

Top Bowlers: Jasprit Bumrah 17, Mohammed Shami 14, Yuzvendra Chahal

This was how India lined up against Sri Lanka last time out.

KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (capt), Rishabh Pant, MS Dhoni (wk), Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah

 

 

New Zealand:

New Zealand were thrashed by England in their final match of the round robin stage and they finished fourth on the log, clinging on to a semi final place ahead of Pakistan on net run rate. Their overall record comprised of 5 wins, 3 defeats and 1 no result and the point earned from the washout against India turned out to be crucial.

The Black Caps were unbeaten after 6 matches (5 wins and 1 draw) but the big concern will be their most recent form after defeats in each of the last 3. The Black Caps played just 1 game in Manchester and they survived a late onslaught by West Indies to hold on for a 5 run victory.

Results: Sri Lanka (won by 10 wickets), Bangladesh (won by 2 wickets), Afghanistan (won by 7 wickets), India (no result), South Africa (won by 4 wickets), West Indies (won by 5 runs), Pakistan (lost by 6 wickets), Australia (lost by 86 runs), England (lost by 119 runs).

Top Run Scorers: Kane Williamson 481, Ross Taylor 261, James Neesham 201.

Top Bowlers: Lockie Ferguson 17 wickets, Trent Boult 15, James Neesham 11.

This was how New Zealand lined up against England last time out.

Martin Guptill, Henry Nicholls, Kane Williamson (capt), Ross Taylor, Tom Latham (wk), Colin de Grandhomme, James Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Matt Henry, Trent Boult

 

Head to Head

The teams have met 107 times with India winning 55, New Zealand have won 45 with 1 tie and 6 no results. They were due to clash in Match 18 at Nottingham but the game was abandoned without a ball being bowled.

The teams met in New Zealand in Jan / Feb of this year and India dominated the series to come away with a 4-1 victory.

 

The Betting, Click here for all markets

India 4/11

New Zealand 9/4

Note prices quoted are correct at the time of publication but are subject to change.

 

Verdict:

India look really hard to beat here with the top batting order in terrific form whilst Jasprit Bumrah is among the best bowlers in the tournament.

New Zealand have had plenty of time to focus on the play offs and the challenge they face is to support their skipper, Kane Williamson, who has made 220 more runs than any other Black Caps batsman in the tournament so far.

Williamson scored 148 against West Indies at this ground and he is our pick to score 50 here. Trent Boult also performed really well at this venue and if he can take 2 wickets that would be enough to see home beat his current quote in the Player Performance market.

 

Suggested Bets:

To score a 50? Kane Williamson (yes) at 13/10

Player Performance, Trent Boult over 39.5 at 9/10

 

Click here for all CWC markets.

Claim your 1^st deposit bonus of up to R10,000 here