England vs. New Zealand Third Test Odds: We're predicting a whitewash at Headingley

This article was written before the news about Jimmy Anderson's ankle injury.

How do we follow that Trent Bridge test? Over 1600 runs and 35 wickets during five days and some of the most ridiculous hitting by Jonny Bairstow you have ever seen on Day 5. 

Well, Headingley of course! England may have already clinched the series, but they will be hoping to maintain the momentum under Brendan McCullum and Ben Stokes in Leeds. We've asked our resident cricket expert Adam Roberts to preview the third test and give us his best bets for the occasion. 

Hooray, England have finally won a test series!

Maybe time to take their foot off the gas and rest a few players for the summer ahead? Not according to Ben Stokes who said they would come harder than ever at Headingley and try for the series whitewash. Following Jonny Bairstow's ridiculous innings (which can be seen below) and the world record 498 in the Netherlands, it's become absolutely apparent that talk of a new era wasn't just meaningless platitudes but a clear statement that this is exactly how England are going to play all formats of the game moving forward - with sheer attack. Sure, there will be massive ups like we saw at Trent Bridge but there are bound to be colossal downs as well following this mantra. One thing is for sure is it won't be boring. 

Team news:

There are still problems within the England batting line up, notably with a misfiring Zak Crawley, but Ollie Pope, Alex Lees and Jonny Bairstow have all answered their doubters in this short series thus far. Crawley will probably be given another chance here as McCullum, Stokes and Rob Key all believe in his undoubtable talent. If he fails again in Leeds though, he could find himself out of the reckoning for the upcoming South Africa tests. 

There may be some rotation of the bowling attack with Broad and Anderson playing both tests so far and one of them will likely miss out in West Yorkshire. Matthew Potts could also be rested here, whilst Stokes missed training this week due to a chesty cough and feeling unwell, so there is a chance that Craig and Jamie Overton could both start - making them the first twins to ever play for England. 

New Zealand are still having COVID issues, Captain Kane Williamson will return here after his own positive case and Devon Conway and Michael Bracewell have both since tested positive. They are however, fit and available for selection at Headingley. 

My first prediction as the title suggests is for England to wrap up the series whitewash with another win. The draw has shorted over the past few days due to a mixed weather forecast but while we should have periods of showers, there isn't anything too heavy that should create huge breaks in play. Stokes notoriously said that he doesn't play for draws so if a result is achievable, then they will certainly be going for it. Likewise New Zealand, who will be desperate to get something out of this tour after playing good cricket for large swathes of it. 

England just seem to have an air of invincibility in their play at the moment. "You score 500? So will we! Then we'll bowl you out and knock them off in a day!". With some cloud cover predicted at Headingley, then it should favour the bowlers more than at Lords and Trent Bridge and I'm expecting the English seamers to extract more out of these conditions. With the batting line up now looking a bit more stable, I would back England to outscore the tourists and take the series 3-0.

Obviously my 2nd pick is dependant on team selection but should James Anderson be picked, then he is a shoe in selection for top England 1st innings bowler. Anderson has struggled in the past at Headingley but in recent years has managed to nail it, taking three wickets against India and Pakistan and five-fors against West Indies and Sri Lanka. He has first innings figures of 4-66 and 3-62 in the series to date so is clearly in form and England's biggest threat.

The 12/5 on offer with the bet365 boost is too good to ignore. 

My last pick is for the unluckiest man in cricket right now. Daryl Mitchell has had a wonderful series along with his batting buddy Tom Blundell and Trent Boult. None of these three men deserve to end on a losing side given their efforts throughout the series. 

Mitchell, in particular, has been the Kiwi's star man and has firmly cemented his place in the test batting line-up moving forward. With scores of 13, 108, 190 and 62* the 31-year-old has accumulated 373 runs at an average of 124 in the series and I'm quite frankly flabbergasted to see him available at 7/1 as NZ top 1st innings bat. He's as low as 5/1 elsewhere.