New Zealand vs South Africa 1st Test Betting Tips 17/02/2022

February 16, 2022

Zohaib Ahmed, Senior Author

The 1^st Test between New Zealand and South Africa will be played from Feb 17 (Thursday) at Hagley Oval, Christchurch. The match is to begin at 3:30am IST.

Teams Status

New Zealand

New Zealand have an extraordinarily poor record against South Africa in Tests. Of the 16 series played between these side, New Zealand have not won even a single one, while the Proteas have been victorious on 13 occasions.

Spread those series out and you’d fine that the Kiwis have only four Test match wins over the African side. But most of that record was built at a time when New Zealand weren’t a powerhouse in Test cricket like they are now, and South Africa weren’t a shadow of their former self.

The New Zealand of today are a different animal. They are the defending world champions in the Tests, although they were recently upset at home by Bangladesh of all teams.

This will be the first time that New Zealand’s South Africa-born batter would play against the country of his birth. He is expected to bat at one down. Ross Taylor has retired so his number four spot is likely to go to Henry Nicholls. There won’t be any Trent Boult, whose wife is expecting so his place is likely to go to Matt Henry.

South Africa

After spending the last few years in transition, South Africa seem to have finally building towards something and seem a moderately strong unit.

They recently upset India in a home Test series so their tails must be up and confidence high. They also boast an excellent Test record against New Zealand as explained above, although the two teams haven’t faced each other in five years during which a lot has changed.

While South Africa as a unit impressed in the 2-1 series win over India, one man who failed spectacularly was Aiden Markram, whose total production for the entire series was just 76 runs.

The selectors have kept faith in him for now, which means he must deliver in this series or else his place in the playing eleven will be on the line.

What Do the Sportsbooks Say?

New Zealand	Draw	South Africa
1.78	4.40	3.60
1.825	4.26	3.84
1.78	4.40	3.60

New Zealand are the favourites for this fixture. Parimatch and Sportsbet have New Zealand priced at 1.78, South Africa at 3.60 and Draw at 4.40. Meanwhile, Paripesa has New Zealand available for 1.825, South Africa for 3.84 and Draw for 4.26.

Tipster’s Angle

Tip: New Zealand to win @ 1.825

Tip: South Africa are coming off of a high but it should not be forgotten than their upset win over India came on their own turf. This series will be in New Zealand’s backyard, and the Black Caps will be desperate for a dominant series win after surrendering points in World Championship when they lost to Bangladesh. Pound for pound, they have more talent and would also enjoy home advantage – a point accentuated by the fact that they have only ever lost one Test at Hagley Oval and that was back in 2016. Therefore, we side with them. The odds have been sourced from Paripesa.

Tip: Tom Latham to score more than 27.5 runs @ 1.85

The last Test played on this venue was against Bangladesh, when Tom Latham scored 252 in the first innings and laid the foundation of a series leveling innings win. With no Kane Williamson and Taylor, a bulk of the burden for run scoring will be on Latham’s shoulders, and we think he’d deliver. The odds have been sourced from Sportsbet.

Conclusion

This series will be a battle of pace. Both sides boast lethal quicks and so whichever team’s batters deal with it better, would come out on top.

Zohaib Ahmed

14:08, 16 Feb 2022

Senior Author

Zohaib Ahmed

Senior Author

14:08, 16 Feb 2022

Zohaib Ahmed is a sports journalist whose profession is to report and edit but whose passion is to predict and bet. He’s been in the industry for more than a decade and has worked/written for various bookmakers/tipsters. His expertise is in cricket, football, MMA, boxing and basketball.