CT 2017, Match 6, ENG v NZ Preview: Kiwis look for first win in CT against hosts

In-form hosts are up against a strong Kiwi side in a crucial Group A encounter. Both teams have to win to keep their chances of qualifying ahead alive.

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England's Joe Root and Eoin Morgan
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England’s Joe Root and England’s Eoin Morgan. (Photo by GLYN KIRK/AFP/Getty Images)

New Zealand produced a sparkling performance with the bat the other day against their long-time rivals Australia. Despite stuttering in the end overs, the revised target of Australia looked beyond them when their third wicket fell at the score of 54 in the 9th over. Incessant rains meant that both teams eventually had to divide points as the game was later abandoned.

Kiwis are now up against the hosts, who produced almost the perfect game in the tournament’s curtain-raiser. England conceded 305 in that game against Bangladesh and a major reason behind that was an injury to their star bowler Chris Woakes, who has done exceptionally well for them in the recent past. Losing him early and then conceding 305 did not deter the Morgan-led side as they knew that they had enough firepower in the batting department. Morgan himself played a crucial part (75*) along with incumbent No. 3 batsman Joe Root, who made a career-best 133* to take England home with 8 wickets in hand. England have improved their limited overs cricket a lot in the last 18 months and the results are there for everyone to see.

New Zealand’s squad possesses a lot of talent. The world cup finalists of 2015 are placed in a tough group where they are virtually fighting with Australia and England for two spots available in the semi-final. Of course, they will have to beat Bangladesh, who are no pushovers anymore. But this game is of utmost importance especially because they couldn’t get a result in their first game. A loss here will bring down curtains to their hopes of qualifying ahead. Williamson’s team must treat this game as a knockout challenge. They have the right team to progress ahead in the competition but must transform their skills and talents into results.

Toss: New Zealand won the toss and elected to field

Captains speak

Eoin Morgan: We would have also like to bowl first. We have one forced change. Chris Woakes misses out and Adil Rashid comes in. He’s been very consistent, getting injured in the first game was not great. Jake Ball will take the new ball today. Stokes is getting close to full fitness and he’s been in the best shape as of today. They played well against Australia and will be tough to beat.

Kane Williamson: We will bowl. Looks like a good surface, there’s a bit of weather around and we would like to exploit the conditions. No changes in our team. This is a short tournament and every ball would be important. WE have encouraged our boys to play with freedom and are looking forward to another good game. It’s great to be here.

Playing XI:

England: Jason Roy, Alex Hales, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan(c), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler(w), Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid, Liam Plunkett, Mark Wood, Jake Ball

New Zealand: Martin Guptill, Luke Ronchi(w), Kane Williamson(c), Ross Taylor, Neil Broom, James Neesham, Corey Anderson, Mitchell Santner, Adam Milne, Tim Southee, Trent Boult

Focus will be on:

Martin Guptill

The Kiwi dasher was recently called as the best white ball cricketer of the country by his captain Williamson. His recent numbers in limited overs cricket accentuate the hypothesis of Williamson. Guptill is known to make daddy hundreds in ODI cricket, the latest one being his unbeaten 180 against a strong South Africa attack earlier in the year. He again looked in ominous touch in the first game before he closed the face of the bat too early to hand a simple catch to Maxwell at point. The Kiwis have promoted Luke Ronchi to open the innings alongside Guptill which will work in the latter’s favour. Ronchi can be the aggressor hence Guptill can take that just a little bit of extra time before he unleashes his fierce strokes. Guptill at the top of the order gives New Zealand flying starts more often than not.

Jason Roy

14 runs from the last four ODI innings are alarming numbers and Jason Roy knows that. The tension on his face is palpable these days. He is again expected to start this game for England are giving him a longer rope. Roy was one of the stimuli of this rejuvenated English side who were once considered too old-school in limited-overs cricket. The 26-year old has established a great opening combination alongside Alex Hales and both provide England flying starts. 2016 was the year which turned everything around for Roy as he amassed 647 runs from 17 innings at 43.13. The most important aspect of his performance last year was his strike rate of 108. He scored two hundreds, including a career-best 162. Roy was unlucky to find Mustafizur at short fine in an attempt to go over his head to get a move on early in his innings. He needs to back himself and play proper cricketing shots while giving himself a little bit of an extra time early in the innings.

Team Combinations:

New Zealand

The Kiwi think-tank did a great job by sending Ronchi to open the innings with Guptill. The wicket-keeper helped himself to a fine 43-ball 65. His promotion meant that New Zealand had to leave out in-form Latham. But due to his omission, they included both Jimmy Neesham and Corey Anderson in the XI, which gives their team more balance and depth in batting. They are likely to go in with the same combination. Santner will be the lone spinner in the line-up and the fast bowling will be taken care of by Boult, Southee and Milne, who picked 3 wickets between themselves in 9 overs against Australia. The class of Williamson and the experience of Ross Taylor will take care of the middle order.

England

Injury to their star bowler Chris Woakes is a big jolt for the hosts. They have called in Steve Finn to replace Woakes and the lanky fast bowler might straightaway become a part of the XI. The rest of the line-up will be pretty much the same. Roy will get another chance to prove his worth to the English set-up and he will open alongside regular Hales. Joe Root and Eoin Morgan, both had great outings the other day and will use the good form to take charge in the middle overs.  Stokes will be the all-rounder who will play the dual role of a batsman and a bowler. Buttler and Ali have the job of getting quick runs at the end. Ali is a frontline spinner as well. England might ponder on bringing in Adil Rashid for Jake Ball, who leaked runs against Australia returning with figures of 1/81.

 

Stat Attack:

50 – This will be Trent Boult’s 50th ODI game. In 49 games so far, Boult has 88 wickets to his name.

1 – One more hundred will give Kane Williamson 10 ODI centuries. He will be the fourth Kiwi to achieve the feat.

2 – Wickets needed by Stokes to complete 50 ODI wickets. He will be the 25th Englishman to do it.

105 – Runs required for Eoin Morgan to complete 5,000 ODI runs for England. Morgan has also scored 744 runs playing for Ireland.

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