Get the shrimp ready for the Barbie!
The saying goes that it is always better to have home advantage and the 2015 Cricket World Cup has proven that more than ever as the tournament co-hosts of Australia and New Zealand as they face each other this Saturday at the MCG in the final of the competition. This will be the Australians seventh final and the first time challenging for the title of World Champions for the Black Caps, but which of these two sides will emerge victorious in Melbourne?
This final will be the second time that these sides have clashed in the 2015 Cricket World Cup as they met at the group stage in Auckland and it was the home team that emerged triumphant on that day at the end of February as they won by a single wicket. They will be desperate to make it two in a row against their neighbours, fiercest rivals and the team sitting top of the pile in the ODI rankings. Bet365.com do not believe that they can win across the water in Australia though as the hosts of this 2015 Cricket World Cup Final have won three of the last four finals, although they were beaten by India at the Quarter Final stages in 2011, and that this experience makes them the big favourites to add another world crown to their bulging trophy cabinet.
The home side can be backed at odds of 1.40 to triumph in their homeland in the closing event of the 11th Cricket World Cup, while the New Zealanders are available at odds of 3.00 to lift the trophy.
The tournament has been an amazing one so far with giants England falling at the group stage after managing to defeat only the minnows of Scotland and Afghanistan, while the Irish showed their quality as they battled to the death only to miss out on a Quarter Final spot on net run rate to the West Indies. The Windies talisman Chris Gayle broke a Cricket World Cup record early in the competition with a massive score of 215 against the UAE to become the top scorer in World Cup history with an outstanding innings.
However, this performance was eclipsed by arguably the best ever batting performance at any World Cup as New Zealander Martin Guptill scored a massive 237 not out against the West Indies at the final eight stage. That score is the second highest ever score in ODI cricket after Rohit Sharma’s 264 against Sri Lanka last year. This may be the stand out knock of the tournament, but this tournament has been a batsman’s tournament and whoever pulls out the big guns in the final will be the ones to triumph.
This is especially true at the MCG as it is a far bigger ground than New Zealand have played at during this competition and it offers much less swing too. The Black Caps have been reliant on swinging the ball to take wickets as they bring a 100% winning record to this decider, although they have not played outside their own country yet, and these differences could prove costly for them. However, in captain Brendan McCullum they have a master tactician and they have a better set of bowlers than their hosts for this all or nothing match. The question is can McCullum pull a rabbit out of his hat if the swing they so desperately need does not appear?
The Australian side have an equally adept captain in Michael Clarke and he will relish the chance to pit himself against McCullum again, especially after struggling with a potentially career ending injury in recent times. His side are the more aggressive of the two with the ball and they’ll certainly put it up to the away team, but with New Zealand sure to continue their own aggressive cricket the Australian captain will be worried about his opening batsmen. Aaron Finch and David Warner have score less than 20 on four occasions in eight games and have scored no more than 57 in their partnership so far. If the New Zealanders can get them early it could be a long way back for the final hosts.
As well as this, rather unusually so, the coin toss will be important as no team has ever scored 300+ runs when batting second at the MCG. This means that both captains will be sure to bat first and aim for a big target to put themselves out of reach when they’re in the field. It’s a 50/50 chance as to who’ll be lucky with the coin, but it may play a vital role in deciding the 2015 Cricket World Cup winner.
Of the two sides it is the Australians who have the experience at this stage of World Cups and this will play heavily into their favour, but with New Zealand’s win over South Africa being their first ever win at this stage of the competition in seven attempts they will believe that it is their time to shine.
This final could go either way and if we’re backing a winner, we feel that New Zealand offer the better value of the two teams to triumph. As well as this we feel that Guptill will once again be the man to shine for the Black Cats and we favour him to score highest for New Zealand in this World Cup Final.
Australia v New Zealand Picks – New Zealand to win @ 3.00 and Martin Guptill to top score for New Zealand @ 4.33 with Bet365.com.