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After getting off to a flier in the tournament, New Zealand will face the embattled England side on February 20th at Wellington. With the way the minnows have performed till now, England would have felt by now that their road to the quarter-final stage will not be easy, which is why this will be a must win game for them.
Team Guide
New Zealand:
The hosts are riding high on confidence after some stupendous performances in their first two matches against Sri Lanka and Scotland. They fielded the same XI in both matches and each member performed his task pretty well. In their opening encounter against Sri Lanka, after a great start provided by skipper Brendon McCullum and Martin Guptill, Corey Anderson, Kane Williamson and Luke Ronchi played beautifully to propel the team’s total to 331. In reply, Tim Southee and Daniel Vettori bowled splendid spells to set up a massive 98-run win for the hosts.
In the second match against Scotland, Southee and Trent Boult ran through their top-order and Anderson and Vettori carried on the good work as Scotland slumped to just 142 runs. New Zealand did win the match (by 3 wickets) but some of their batsmen played reckless shots that made the chase unnecessarily interesting. But ultimately, the job was done and they got the points.
England:
The poms were literally thrashed in their opening match against Australia at Melbourne. They failed to get on as a unit and most importantly, they didn’t select their best unit. I still can’t understand why all-rounder Ravi Bopara, who is playing his third World Cup, got dropped at the expense of batsman Gary Ballance. It’s true that Ballance is a good young player but Bopara can perform a dual role and is also an experienced member of this side.
Regarding skipper Eoin Morgan’s poor form, I think that he has got to believe that he can emerge from this slump sooner than later as he is the man who can take England forward in this tournament. Morgan has played ODI cricket for quite a while now and he just needs to keep things simple and play his natural game against New Zealand.
Previous World Cup Encounters:
1975: England won by 80 runs (Nottingham)
1979: England won by 9 runs (Manchester)
1983: England won by 106 runs (Oval)
New Zealand won by 2 wickets (Birmingham)
1992: New Zealand won by 7 wickets (Wellington)
1996: New Zealand won by 11 runs (Ahmedabad)
2007: New Zealand won by 6 wickets (Gros Islet)
Team News:
All players from both the teams are fully fit for selection and there are not even any minor injury concerns.
Key Players To Watch Out For
New Zealand: Corey Anderson
Anderson has been a revelation for this New Zealand team. Batting down the order, he express himself in flamboyant style and when he comes out to bowl, he delivers good quality overs of medium-fast bowling. Somewhere down the line, I get a feeling that his all-round play might well decide the fate of New Zealand in the important stages of the tournament. Till now, he has scored 86 runs in 2 matches with a half-century against Sri Lanka and has also grabbed 5 scalps.
England: Eoin Morgan
Morgan is one of those guys who the team can turn up to when the pressure is on. He’s done it so many times for them in the past and it’s just a matter of time that he gets back to his brilliant, innovative best.
Probable Playing XI
New Zealand:
Martin Guptill, Brendon McCullum (c), Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Corey Anderson, Grant Elliott, Luke Ronchi (wk), Daniel Vettori, Adam Milne, Tim Southee, Trent Boult
England:
Moeen Ali, Ian Bell, James Taylor, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan (c), Jos Buttler (wk), Ravi Bopara, Chris Woakes, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Steven Finn
Time 06:30 IST