England have a pretty balanced side with many all-rounders in the order: Kane Williamson

The visiting England side led by Eoin Morgan will be taking on the host Kiwi side commanded by their skipper Kane Williamson in the first ODI of the five-match series. After a fabulous and clinical performance in the 4-1 ODI series in Australia earlier in the year, England will be high on confidence and end their away tour on a high.

Their all-rounder Ben Stokes is back with the national team for the first time after the Bristol bar brawl, that happened in September last year. On the other hand, the New Zealand team will be looking to maintain their consistent home run after an incredible series win against Pakistan, last year.

Ben Stokes is one of best all-rounders

During the pre-match conference, Williamson spoke about the different challenges that await them in the series. He praised Stokes and termed him as one of the best all-rounders currently in the modern era of the game. The Kiwi skipper reckoned that the visitors have a pretty balanced unit at its disposal in limited-overs cricket.

“Well, Stokes is one of the best all-rounders in world cricket, then they have somebody like Plunkett and Rashid who can bat lower down the order, which makes them a tough task in terms of the balance of the side. At the same you don’t want to get too much carried away with the opposition and focus on the cricket game by adapting to the conditions,” said Williamson.

Moods have shifted from T20 cricket to ODI

Both the teams were absolutely in an explosive and striking flow when they met each other in the recently concluded tri-nation T20I series, which also included the winning Australian team in the entertaining contest. However, Williamson revealed that the boys have shifted their focus and are pretty charged up for the fixtures.

“I think we park the T20 for now and focus on the good one-day cricket we have been playing. The plans and blueprint are completely different as obviously its is a longer format, so its important that we go back to that and try to build on those things. We know we have got a tough challenge in England,” the Kiwi skipper further added.

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