The Netherlands will host New Zealand for a two-match home T20I series. The visitors have named Mitchell Santner as their skipper for both the encounters as the second-string Kiwi team will be playing without the likes of Kane Williamson, Tim Southee, Trent Boult, and their other senior players.
The all-format vice-captain of New Zealand namely Tom Latham too will be unavailable for the series. Both the games of the series will take place at the Sportpark Westvliet of The Hague. The two matches will be played on two consecutive days (August 4 and 5) at 8 PM IST.
It will be the final series of New Zealand’s Europe tour which consisted of back-to-back limited-overs series against the likes of Ireland, and Scotland followed by the T20s against the Netherlands. On the other hand, the Netherlands recently lost an ODI series against England with a humiliating margin of 3-0.
T20I record (Head to Head):
New Zealand has faced the Netherlands in only one encounter which took place in the last T20 World Cup (UAE). The Men in Black registered a convincing victory in that game after chasing a total of 152 without breaking a sweat.
The blackcaps will indeed be the favorites going into the two-match series. However, considering the short length of the series, one upset would snatch the series win chances from the Santner-led visitors.
Sportspark Westvliet The Hague pitch report
Sportpark Westvliet of the Hague will be hosting an international game after almost three years. Both the two encounters of the series will be day/night encounters. The venue has hosted as few as four T20 internationals so far.
The average aggregate total from the two encounters which took place last year is 148. However, Considering the freshness of the surfaces, Do not be surprised if the games turn out to be high-scoring encounters.
Sportpark Westvliet, The Hague Weather Forceast:
The temperature on both the Match Days will remain around 20 degrees Celsius. While The chances of precipitation remain 20%. The partially cloudy two consecutive days (August 4 and 5) will have a wind speed of 25 KMPH.