England v New Zealand Second Test Prediction, Tips and Bet Builder

England are 1-0 up in their three-match Test series against New Zealand and James Milton has picked out his best bets for Wednesday's second Test at The Oval.

Last week, the hosts beat the Kiwis by 115 runs on a difficult pitch at Lord's, where the highest score of the match was 57 by England's new opener Emilio Gay.

England have been forced into several changes for the second Test as captain Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson are unavailable and Ollie Robinson, player of the match at Lord's, has a knee injury. 

England v New Zealand Second Test Tips Summary

Best Bet - Josh Tongue to be top first-innings bowler @ 4/1
Alternative Bet - England to have highest match opening partnership @ 10/11
Bet Builder - Rachin Ravindra over 58.5 runs, Will O'Rourke 3+ wickets & Harry Brook to score most fours for England @ 7/1

England v New Zealand Second Test Prediction

Best Bet: Josh Tongue to be top first-innings bowler @ 4/1

Fast bowlers dominated the first Test at Lord's, where England's second-innings 226 was comfortably the highest total of the match.

The home side will unleash a new-look pace attack at The Oval as Jofra Archer has returned from the IPL and Matthew Fisher and debutant Sonny Baker are also in the team.

Josh Tongue, the sole survivor from the first Test, is an increasingly important member of England's bowling unit.

Tongue's excellent start to his Test career continued with figures of 3-40 and 2-48 at Lord's and he looks a good bet to be the top first-innings wicket-taker in Kennington.

The tall paceman has an impressive tally of 54 wickets in 10 Tests and he took 3-57 and 5-125 in last summer's six-run defeat to India at The Oval. 

Alternative Bet: England to have highest match opening partnership @ 10/11

England used the new ball brilliantly at Lord's, where New Zealand had opening stands of just two and nought.

Kiwi opener Tom Latham also made a duck in last month's innings victory over Ireland so England should be backed to post the highest first-wicket partnership.

Ben Duckett and Emilio Gay shared stands of 16 and 52 in the first Test and Duckett has made 41, 42, 86, seven, 43 and 54 in six Test innings at The Oval.

Gay scored an unbeaten 156 for Durham in last summer's draw with Surrey at the venue and he looked assured on his Test debut, contributing a vital 57 in the second innings.      

England v New Zealand Second Test Bet Builder Tip

• Rachin Ravindra over 58.5 runs

• Will O'Rourke 3+ wickets

• Harry Brook to score most fours for England
  Pays 7/1

Rachin Ravindra, like many batsmen, had a tough time at Lord's but his previous five Test matches had produced scores of 165 not out, three, 176, five, 72 not out, 46 not out and 121.

Imposing New Zealand paceman Will O'Rourke caused problems in the first Test and he has taken 14 wickets in four matches against England.

Harry Brook hit 19 fours in last summer's defeat to India at The Oval and the England batter averages 7.9 fours per Test innings against New Zealand.

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Key Match Stats

• Only two of England's last 29 home Tests ended in draws

• Harry Brook has scored three centuries and four fifties in 11 Test innings against New Zealand

• England have lost four of their last six Tests at The Oval

• New Zealand captain Tom Latham has been dismissed for one, nought, three and nought in his last four away Test innings 

• Nathan Smith has taken 17 wickets in his last two Tests against Ireland and England

• No New Zealand player reached 50 in the first Test at Lord's

Tactics, Form and Team News

Batsman Jordan Cox and fast bowler Sonny Baker make their Test debuts for England and Joe Root will captain the side.

Regular skipper Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson have been left out for disciplinary reasons and paceman Ollie Robinson (knee) is sidelined.

James Rew is on standby to keep wicket if Jamie Smith is unavailable due to the birth of his second child.

Predicted lineup: 1 Ben Duckett, 2 Emilio Gay, 3 Jacob Bethell, 4 Joe Root (c), 5 Harry Brook, 6 Jamie Smith (wk), 7 Jordan Cox, 8 Jofra Archer, 9 Josh Tongue, 10 Matthew Fisher, 11 Sonny Baker.

New Zealand legend Kane Williamson announced his retirement from international cricket after the first Test.

Will Young has replaced Williamson in the squad and fast bowler Matt Henry is a doubt due to back spasms.

Predicted lineup: 1 Tom Latham (c), 2 Devon Conway, 3 Rachin Ravindra, 4 Daryl Mitchell, 5 Henry Nicholls, 6 Tom Blundell (wk), 7 Glenn Phillips, 8 Nathan Smith, 9 Kyle Jamieson, 10 Will O'Rourke, 11 Matt Henry.

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This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.