New Zealand square off against a resurgent England: England v New Zealand Test Series Preview

New Zealand square off against a resurgent England: England v New Zealand Test Series Preview: New Zealand is touring England from May 21- June 23 in a tour that consists of 2 tests, 5 ODIs and a T20I game. It is an important tour for both the sides, more so for England after they had a disastrous world cup where they crashed out of the tournament in the group stage.

It will be a good opportunity for England to resurrect itself and put up a promising show in this series. On the other hand, the New Zealanders are raring to go with many players deserting their IPL sides for national duty. All eyes will be on BJ Walting, the stand-in skipper of the New Zealand test team. It will be interesting to see how he marshals his troops around. England, under their new team director Andrew Strauss looks well-regulated and will be trying their best to trouble the visitors.

Now let’s take a look at the both the squads and analyze their strengths and weaknesses.

England’s squad for the Test series:

Alistair Cook (Captain), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Gary Ballance, Ian Bell, Adam Lyth, Stuart Broad, Jos Butler (wk), Chris Jordan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes and Mark Wood.

New Zealand’s squad for the Test series:

BJ Walting(Captain), Brendon McCullum, Trent Boult, Corey Anderson, Doug Bracewell, Adam Milne, Luke Ronchi (wk), Hamish Rutherford, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Neil Wagner, Kane Williamson, Martin Guptill, Mark Craig, Tom Latham.

Alistair Cook as usual will lead the England side in the tests. He will open the innings along with all- rounder Moeen Ali, who’s been in good form lately. Yorkshire left-hander Adam Lyth has been added to the ranks. He will be expected to perform well and justify his selection. Joe Root is there as well to provide solidity to the squad. He has been a key player for England in the past one year. England would want him and Ian Bell to impact the game. The bowling attack is led by pace spearhead James Anderson. He can swing the ball both ways and can trouble the visitors in his home conditions. He is ably supported by Stuart Broad and Chris Jordan. The English test side on its home turf is always a tough side to beat, but the absence of Kevin Pietersen might hurt them big time. Pietersen has maintained a strained relationship with ECB and has not been selected for the tour. It might well be a mistake that the ECB would later regret.

The New Zealand side is led by stand-in skipper BJ Walting. The South Africa born batsman who made his test debut in 2009 is a talented player but will be challenged by the swinging conditions here in England.

Brendon McCullum who has just come in after having a good IPL season will be opening the innings. The triple-centurion will be expected to fire and prove his class and experience. All eyes will be on Martin Guptill the double centurion in the recently concluded world cup. He was instrumental in the Black Caps reaching the finals of the world cup and their fans will be hoping that he delivers in this tour.

Kane Williamson will be joining the side from the IPL. He is yet another class player who has skill and temperament to negotiate the swing and score steadily in these challenging conditions. Ross Taylor will be expected to justify his reputation. Trent Boult will lead the pace attack. He will definitely enjoy the pacy England tracks and he and Adam Milne will try to make optimum use of the conditions. Doug Bracewell is another valuable asset to the team. He can trouble the batsman too with his smart bowling.

England look set, New Zealand seem ready it’s going be a cracker of a series with two extremely talented sides squaring off against each other.  I think it will be a good contest between bat and ball and cricket fans are in for a treat with this test series.