The first test between England and New Zealand gets under way at Lords on Wednesday and we take a look at the squads, recent form and the all important betting.
There are just two matches in this series with the second test taking place at Edgbaston next week. Let's begin with a look at the squads.
England are without Jofra Archer Ben Stokes and Ben Foakes whilst Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran and Chris Woakes have not been considered after returning from the IPL. Wicket keeper James Bracey could be in line for a first start.
England: Joe Root (c), James Anderson, James Bracey, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Zak Crawley, Sam Billings , Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Craig Overton, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Dom Sibley, Olly Stone, Mark Wood
Trent Boult is an injury doubt for New Zealand who will select from the following squad.
New Zealand: Kane Williamson (c), Trent Boult, Doug Bracewell, Devon Conway, Colin de Grandhomme, Jacob Duffy, Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Ross Taylor, Neil Wagner, Henry Nicholls, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, BJ Watling (wk), Will Young, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell, Ajaz Patel
Recent Form
England
England were in India in February and after winning the series opener they lost the next 3 to go down 3-1. In January they won both tests in Sri Lanka and on home soil last year they beat West Indies 2-1 and Pakistan 1-0.
New Zealand
The Black Caps will face India in the World Test Championship Final (in Southampton) after this series and their most recent action came over Christmas and New Year when they won both tests at home to Pakistan by wide margins. They also beat West Indies and India 2-0 in home series' last year but the last time they travelled for a test series they lost 3-0 in Australia.
Recent Head to Head
The most recent series came in New Zealand in November 2019, the Black Caps won the first test by an innings and 65 runs and the second test was drawn.
In March 2018 New Zealand won another home series 1-0, winning the first test and drawing the second.
The most recent test series in England came in May 2015 and the two match series was shared 1-1.
The Venue Lords, London
The most recent contest came against Australia in 2019 was drawn, it was relatively low scoring wwith both sides making just over 250 in the first innings.
The teams have met in 17 Lords tests' with England winning 8, another 8 were drawn and New Zealand's only win came back in 1999.
The Betting
England are currently trading at around 9/10 to win the first test with the draw a 4/1 chance and New Zealand can be backed at around 2/1
As far as the top 1st innings bat markets are concerned Joe Root is 9/4 for England and Kane Williamson is 2/1 for New Zealand.
Note all prices are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
The Verdict
England are missing a number of key players and my focus is on the exotics.
My headline pick is Neil Wagner to be top 1st innings wicket taker for New Zealand and thereafter I'm looking at any New Zealander top scoring in the first innings.
Joe Root aside I don't see too many obvious candidates to score big for England and New Zealand might have a bit more depth in the top and middle order.
Bets: Top NZ wicket taker 1st innings, Neil Wagner at 11/4
1st innings team of top run scorer New Zealand at 11/10
Note all prices are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
Sunbet, Claim your 1st deposit bonus of up to R1,000 here
