T20 World Cup West Indies vs New Zealand: Tips and suggested bets

James Richardson
12 June 2024

Planet Sport presents a selection of tips and suggested bets for the T20 World Cup match between West Indies and New Zealand from the Brian Lara Cricket Academy.

West Indies have made a perfect start to their tournament albeit against the weaker members of their group while New Zealand have endured a tough start.

New Zealand are set to play just their second match of the tournament while other sides have already booked a place in the next phase of the competition.

The Black Caps looked rusty in their defeat to Afghanistan and now face a team who have enjoyed a much better schedule and have built momentum coming into the tournament and carried it on with wins to start their campaign.

New Zealand are far from out of the hunt for the Super 8s phase of the competition having played only once, but another loss against the West Indies will leave them needing favours from elsewhere to progress.

Meanwhile, the West Indies would put themselves on the brink of qualification if they secure a third straight victory.

The hosts have a team loaded full of match-winners and underrated contributors and they are desperate to make amends for their recent failures to reach ICC tournaments.

West Indies vs New Zealand: Suggested bets

The West Indies have many sensational batters capable of making mincemeat of the opposition attacks. Finishing power aside though, the man who has most often put the runs on the board for the West Indies of late has been Brandon King with 552 runs to his name from his last 17 T20I innings.

With left-arm orthodox spinner Akeal Hosein being brought into the West Indies attack early, the first wicket falling to a leg before wicket decision becomes a distinct possibility.

Hosein has often been able to deceive batters and trap them LBW early on. Backing the first wicket to be anything other than caught makes sense in this instance.

In the absence of Tim Southee, New Zealand's most consistent wicket-taker is also a left-arm spinner in Mitchell Santner. Santner will be the man most likely to end up with the most wickets for the Black Caps in Trinidad.

Finn Allen is New Zealand's best hope of matching the six-hitting prowess of the West Indies. Allen has top-scored for New Zealand in the last year in T20I cricket and his form is often an indicator of how well his team is doing.