Cricket World Cup final: punting pointers for England v New Zealand

England are no bigger than 1-3 to win the World Cup for the first time when they face New Zealand, 11-1 ante-post in Sunday’s final at Lord’s.

However, bookmakers offer a host of other markets on the big game and here are five bets for punters to weigh up:

Jason Roy to be man of the match
9-1 bet365, Sky Bet
Roy’s importance to England is no secret – he missed three games with a hamstring injury and two of those were the losses to Sri Lanka and Australia.

Since returning to fitness, the opener has scored 66, 60 and 85 in crucial victories over India, New Zealand and Australia and he also struck a brutal 153 – England’s highest score of the tournament – against Bangladesh.

His aggressive approach will always carry some risk and he was almost bowled first ball by Kiwi spinner Mitchell Santner at the Riverside.

However, Roy’s pyrotechnic show has rarely fizzled out recently – he has three centuries and six fifties in just 11 innings in 2019 – so backing him to be man of the match at 9-1 looks preferable to the 3-1 that he top-scores for England.

In the 11 Cricket World Cup finals the man-of-the-match award has gone to six batsmen: Clive Lloyd, Viv Richards, David Boon, Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist and MS Dhoni.

Two bowlers – Shane Warne (1999) and James Faulkner (2015) – and three all-rounders – Mohinder Amarnath, Wasim Akram and Aravinda de Silva – got the nod although De Silva would probably have won it just for his sparkling century in Sri Lanka’s 1996 victory.

Trent Boult to be top New Zealand wicket-taker
11-4 general
Trent Boult had a magnificent 2015 World Cup, finishing as joint-leading wicket-taker with Mitchell Starc as New Zealand reached the final.

Four years on, he had been an integral part of the Kiwis’ success again and his last five games yielded figures of 4-30, 1-48, 4-51, 2-56 and 2-42.

Boult took a four-wicket haul, including a hat-trick, in the defeat to Australia at Lord’s and should relish a return to the venue for the final.

WORLD CUP FINAL LOWDOWN
Venue Lord’s, London
When to bet Starts 10.30am Sunday (toss at 10am)
Where to watch Live on Sky Sports Cricket & Main Event and Channel 4 & More 4 from 9am Sunday
Best odds 1-3 England (general), 11-4 New Zealand (Betway)

He has been troubling some class players – his four most recent victims were Joe Root, Jos Buttler, Virat Kohli and the well-set Ravindra Jadeja – and left-arm pace bowlers have caused havoc at Lord’s during this tournament.

Starc, Jason Behrendorff, Mustafizur Rahman and Shaheen Afridi have all taken five or more wickets in an innings and 39 of the 73 scalps to fall to bowlers at Lord’s have gone to left-arm quicks.

Under 8.5 match sixes
11-10 bet365
Bowlers were supposed to be an endangered species by this stage of the tournament but the contest between bat and ball has been far more even than many expected.

Lord’s is a wonderful venue for top-class seam bowlers and big hitters have struggled to assert themselves so going under the sixes line could be profitable.

The last ten ODIs at Lord’s have featured three, two, six, nine, five, one, 11, three, 12 and six maximums and only four sixes were struck in the 2015 final between the Kiwis and Australia.

Chris Woakes to take two or more wickets
10-11 Coral, Ladbrokes
One of the highlights of the tournament for cricket purists was the sight of Woakes reeling off three maiden overs in a row at the start of India’s run-chase at Edgbaston (and dismissing opener Lokesh Rahul).

That display of controlled potency was no fluke – Woakes claimed 2-46 in the group clash with Australia at Lord’s, pinned Henry Nicholls lbw in his first over against New Zealand at Chester-le-Street, and took 3-20 in Thursday’s semi-final triumph over the Aussies.

He loves playing at Lord’s – in three Test appearances at HQ he averages 130 with the bat and just ten with the ball – so the 10-11 that the Brummie Botham picks up at least two wickets looks tempting.

Woakes is 7-2 to be England’s top wicket-taker and 16-1 to be named man of the match.

Kane Williamson top New Zealand runscorer & New Zealand to win
10-1 Coral, Ladbrokes
If you fancy an upset the 10-1 about Williamson inspiring New Zealand looks a great way to support the underdogs.

It is hard to see how the Black Caps can win without a major contribution from the skipper or Ross Taylor, who have made 48.7 per cent of their side’s runs off the bat at this tournament.

Williamson wasn’t required to bat in the opening ten-wicket victory over Sri Lanka but in five subsequent World Cup wins he scored 40, 79 not out, 106 not out, 148 and 67.

Other Kane-related prices of interest are Coral’s enhanced 7-4 that he and Taylor score at least 100 runs between them (their tally in the low-scoring semi against India was 141) and Sky Bet’s 11-1 about Williamson and England’s Root top-scoring for their teams.

Today's top sports betting stories

Follow us on Twitter @racingpostsport

Like us on Facebook RacingPostSport