New Zealand v South Africa First Test: 3 Bets to Take

Fresh off a series win against India, South Africa take on New Zealand in the first Test match of the two-match series at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch. The World Test Championship defending champions, New Zealand, come into this series on the back of a disappointing series against Bangladesh where they drew 1-1.

I’ve put together three bets to take for the first Test of the series.

South Africa

South Africa have never lost a Test series against New Zealand and come into this Test on the back of a superb series win against India. The hosts have only won four out of 45 Tests against the Proteas.

The Black Caps will also be without Kane Williamson (elbow injury) and Ross Taylor (retired) who are two crucial players for them. Despite that, they still have quality batsmen in Tom Latham, Devon Conway, Henry Nicholls plus a very good bowling attack.

I expect the team with the better pace attack to win this Test. With the likes of Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi and Marco Jansen, the Proteas are good value at 3.60 as I believe they have the better pace attack on a seamer-friendly wicket at the Hagley Oval.

Dean Elgar

As one of the few players in the Proteas squad who’s played in New Zealand before, I expect the South African captain to have another fantastic series with the bat after impressing against India. Against India, he showed us that he is the type of captain that wants to lead from the front with his performances.

Dean Elgar also has an impressive record against the Kiwis with 408 runs in 6 matches at an average of 51.00. He has scored two hundreds and one fifty and has scores of 140 and 89 in his previous two innings in New Zealand.

A Hundred to be Scored in the Match

In the previous match at the Hagley Oval, two New Zealand players scored centuries against Bangladesh with Tom Latham scoring a double ton (252) and  South African born batter Devon Conway scoring his third Test century (109).

Even though fast bowlers have traditionally excelled at this venue, I still see someone scoring a hundred in this Test.