New Zealand vs Australia 1st T20 Preview & Betting Tips - Australia to win opener

By Nikhil Kalro

20 Feb 2024

Nikhil Kalro 20 Feb 2024

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Australia to face New Zealand in the upcoming T20I series as part of the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy.
Australia have a full-strength squad with Mitchell Marsh as captain whereas New Zealand will be led by Mitchell Santner in the absence of Kane Williamson.
Australia is predicted to win the series opener owing to their depth and strength of squad.

Australia's Steve Smith (Getty Images)

Australia will travel to New Zealand for the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy, which now also comprises T20Is, a new introduction to include “relevance” for all white-ball games.

With the T20I series kicking off on Wednesday, both teams will look to get ahead in the series considering a block of Test matches scheduled to split the shortest format and the ODIs.

Australia Form & Team News

Australia go into this series with a similar squad to the one that faced West Indies at home earlier this month. They will be led by Mitchell Marsh, who will incidentally captain despite the presence of Australia’s regular captain Pat Cummins in the squad.

Other inclusions are Travis Head, Steven Smith and Matthew Short, who is coming off a sensational show in the recently-concluded BBL. Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood have also been added a full-strength squad.

New Zealand Form & Team News

New Zealand have some changes, with Kane Williamson absent to attend the birth of his third child. In his stead, Mitchell Santner will lead the home side, a role not unfamiliar to him.

New Zealand have also stuck with some explosive firepower at the top of the order, including Finn Allen and Josh Clarkson, two of the biggest hitters in the country.

In the previous home series against Pakistan, Allen managed 275 runs at an average of 55 and a strike rate of close to 200.

"Someone who can take the game away from you at the start is pretty important," Santner said of Allen. "We know that power game he's got and in that last series he showed that if he does get going he can singlehandedly win a game for us. It's trying to generate the strike rate in the powerplay, it's the best time to bat, then cash in if you can after that.”

Australia vs New Zealand Tips & Predictions

Australia will start as slight favorites considering they have a full-strength squad to choose from. They have enough depth in almost every department, including at the top with David Warner and Mitchell Marsh along with Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Travis Head and Josh Inglis in the middle order.

New Zealand will dearly miss the services of their talisman leader Kane Williamson but they will still compete. However, there is a sense that their bowling line-up does not have that much to be able to curtail in the death overs, which could be where this series is won and lost.

We’re backing Australia to get ahead of this series early and get out of this with a T20I series win.