New Zealand v England: Twenty20 betting preview, free tips & where to watch

Cricket tips, best bets and predictions for New Zealand's third Twenty20 international against England.

Where to watch

Live on Sky Sports Cricket, 1am Monday night

Best bets

New Zealand to hit more sixes
3pts 20-21 bet365
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M Santner to be man of the match
1pt 20-1 bet365
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Match preview

England were sloppy in the field and unusually meek with the bat in the second Twenty20 international in Wellington, allowing New Zealand to level the five-match series at 1-1.

The series continues at the Saxton Oval in Nelson on Monday night and the only previous Twenty20 international at the venue produced a comfortable victory for the Kiwis against the West Indies in 2017.

New Zealand also won the sixes battle 6-5 that day – no mean feat against a Windies side featuring Chris Gayle – and their batsmen have needed no second invitation to go over the top in this series.

The Black Caps hit seven sixes to England's four in the first game in Christchurch and openers Martin Guptill and Colin Munro attacked from the off in the second match, hitting a maximum apiece off the second over of the innings, bowled by England debutant Saqib Mahmood.

With the silky Kane Williamson sidelined by injury, New Zealand's batting gameplan is dependent on the heavy artillery and that isn't a bad policy given the short boundaries at many of their home grounds.

Powerful pair Colin de Grandhomme (three) and Jimmy Neesham (four) helped them to a total of 12 sixes, three more than England managed on their way to a 21-run defeat.

Sam Curran and Chris Jordan bowled well for the second game in a row but England's back-up bowlers were expensive and their batsmen struggled to assert themselves against the left-arm spin of Mitchell Santner.

The crafty slow bowler, who dismissed Curran, Jordan and skipper Eoin Morgan in Wellington, has returned excellent figures of 3-23 and 3-25 in the first two matches and looks a tempting price at 20-1 to claim successive man-of-the-match awards.

Santner produced a terrific all-round cameo in the 2017 game against the Windies in Nelson, scoring an unbeaten 23 off just 11 balls before taking 1-21 from four miserly overs.

He finished September's series in Sri Lanka with 3-12 from four overs in Pallekele and is too big a price in the man-of-the-match betting given his crucial role in New Zealand's 20-over strategy.

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