New Zealand cut again for series win

After the woeful efforts of England's batsmen in Hamilton, New Zealand were already odds-on for victory in the three-Test series. But after England's decision to drop Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard for this week's second Test, they have been cut again.

Having given themselves a chance of winning thanks to Ryan Sidebottom's efforts on day four, they crumbled to be out for 110 when chasing 300 for victory, and quite frankly they deserved the defeat.

Their go-slow attitude with the bat in the first innings, when they scored at only two runs an over throughout, simply increased the pressure on themselves and they looked short of confidence and even clueless at times.

Harmison - quite rightly - and Hoggard, perhaps surprisingly, bore the brunt of the blame for the defeat and now bet365 make New Zealand 8/15 to go on to win the series, while England are drifting to 5/1 to turn it around by winning, and the draw is an 11/4 chance.

But if England don't lift their game in the second Test, which begins in Wellington on Thursday, then they could be staring a 3-0 defeat in the face, which is a 13/2 shot and would be a total embarrassment.

New Zealand dominated throughout the match and will go into the second game knowing that if they play the same way, then they have a great chance to clinch the series in Wellington by making it 2-0.