University Oval Dunedin pitch report and weather conditions
Dunedin will play host to New Zealand's first match in the ICC Cricket World Cup Super League, where they face Bangladesh.
New Zealand and Bangladesh lock horns in a 3-match ODI series, with the series opener to be held in University Oval. The pitch on this ground has produced high-scoring encounters in the past. The average first innings score in ten ODIs at this venue has been 261.
Interestingly, teams batting first and teams batting second have won five matches each here. So far, only on two occasions has the score been below 200 while batting first in Dunedin ODIs. New Zealand have a superb win-loss record of 8-2 in ODI matches at this stadium.
Incidentally, the last ODI played in Dunedin was a contest between New Zealand and Bangladesh only. The hosts beat their rivals by 88 runs in that one-day match after the visitors won the toss and invited Kane Williamson's men to bat first.
Henry Nicholls, Ross Taylor, and Tom Latham recorded a fifty each to take New Zealand to 330/6 in their 50 overs. Chasing 331, Bangladesh got reduced to 2/3 courtesy of Tim Southee's triple strike. Southee dismissed Tamim Iqbal, Liton Das, and Soumya Sarkar in quick succession.
Although No. 6 batsman Sabbir Rahman scored a ton for Bangladesh, they could not even touch the 250-run mark. Southee ended the match with figures of 6/65 in his 9.2 overs.
As Southee is a member of the current New Zealand squad, he will be keen to replicate his previous performance in the upcoming ODI.
University Oval Dunedin weather conditions
This match has an 11:00 AM start time. The temperature will be below 15 degrees Celsius in the morning. The sun is expected to come out in the afternoon, while the humidity levels will stay around 62%.
There are minimal chances of rain in Dunedin on Saturday. Thus, fans have high chances of getting a full 50-overs-a-side match.