Our online cricket betting analysis and Zimbabwe vs Netherlands betting tips are coming up next so keep on reading because all will be revealed ahead of another match at the World Cup.
The match will take place in Adelaide on Wednesday, November 2 at 9:30 am IST so keep on reading for everything you need to know ahead of the game.
Zimbabwe are favourites to win the game and this looks like a game where it’s not worth going with the outsider to upset the odds.
I’ll explain why Zimbabwe look stronger in most departments and why either betting on them pre-match, or during the game in Live Betting at slightly bigger odds, should pay off.
Recommended Bet: Back Zimbabwe to win @ 1.42 with BlueChip
Zimbabwe are 1.42 here with the Netherlands 2.85.
Those odds look absolutely correct, all things considered.
Zimbabwe are 3-1 up on the head-to-head and looked a considerably better side here in the World Cup.
They beat Pakistan against the odds and came perilously close to beating Bangladesh as outsiders, as well.
The Netherlands have quite frankly been battered in all three of their matches so far.
The best the Dutch can hope for is that it’s a tricky surface where the side who bowls best wins the game. But that’s not likely to be the case here in Adelaide.
Whereas they’re relatively well-matched when it comes to bowling, it’s very much advantage Zimbabwe with the bat.
If you want to try to get a bit bigger than the 1.42 on the Netherlands in Live Betting, you may well try to do so and it might be worth aiming for odds of about 1.7.
But 1.42 on Zimbabwe pre-match isn’t a bad bet at all given they look a stronger team all around.
And if you haven’t read it already, here’s our BlueChip review.
The best cricket matches aren’t necessarily played between the best teams. And Zimbabwe vs Bangladesh was a good example of that.
Two of the less fashionable teams at the World Cup battled it out in an excellent match on Sunday that had a bit of everything, including a dramatic final over that included sixes from tail-enders, four leg byes, wickets and no-balls on technicalities.
In the end, Zimbabwe needed to hit the last ball of the innings (a free hit for that no-ball) for three to tie or four or six to win it but didn’t manage a run at all.
Chasing 150, Zimbabwe made a poor start in the chase (not for the first time) and only got so close because Sean Williams played a gem of an innings with 64 off 42.
Had he not been run out after some excellent fielding from Bangladesh’s Shakib Al-Hasan, they may have won in the end.
They may also have won had the superb Sikandar Raza not had a rare off day. He did take a wicket yet again but was more expensive than usual and was out for 0 with the bat.
Zimbabwe will have been left thinking about what may have been if they’d won here.
They would have been in second place and with Pakistan still playing South Africa, anything could have happened, and they may have made the semi-finals having been around the 100/1 mark to do so just a couple of weeks ago.
But still.
Progress to the semis is unlikely now but Zimbabwe have been excellent so far in this tournament and have achieved all that on minimum resources.
It would be a lovely story if 36-year-old Raza got a BBL or IPL contract on the back of his performances. But let’s wait and see.
Fast bowler Blessing Muzarabani is another who has impressed.
Against Pakistan on Sunday, the Netherlands got a reminder (as if one was needed) that the standard at this level isn’t exactly what they’re used to throughout most of the year.
A ruthless Pakistan reduced them to just 91 runs off their 20 overs.
Only two Dutch batsmen got to double figures with Colin Ackerman scoring 27 and Scott Edwards 15.
Defending that total, they did well to claim Pakistani three wickets who were in a rush to get those runs and improve their net run rate.
They were actually pretty decent with the ball but then again, we’ve known that about them all along: they’re tight, accurate and disciplined when bowling.
And with all due respect, they lack a bit of class, muscle and sophistication with the bat.
One of the areas they need to improve on is rotating the strike a bit better.
Roelof van der Merwe returned for the last match after injury and should feature again here.
Likely XI
O’Dowd, Singh, de Leede, Ackermann, Cooper, Edwards, Pringle, van Beek, Ahmad, Klaasen, van Meekeren.
Zimbabwe vs Netherlands Head-to-Head
It’s 3-1 to Zimbabwe on the head-to-head.
Zimbabwe first won back in 2014 before they shared a Series 1-1 back in 2019.
And they also played earlier this year when Zimbabwe posted 132 and defended it quite easily in the end, the Dutch managing just 95.
One Zimbabwe player claimed four wickets in that match. It shouldn’t come as a big surprise to hear it was Raza.
Venue & conditions
This will be the first match of the tournament to be played in Adelaide.
The last few games here have been quite high-scoring affairs and the advantage generally goes to the team batting first here at the Adelaide Oval.
So that’s what we’d expect the captain winning the toss to do.
But the Netherlands rarely score many and going under 150 on the first innings runs line if they bat first could be a good strategy.
