World Cup 2015 Group A Match 9 Preview: New Zealand vs England

World Cup 2015 Group A Match 9 Preview: New Zealand vs England:

Date: February 20, 2015     Time: 0630 IST
Venue: Wellington

New Zealand:

New Zealand team is working like well-oiled machinery. Their batting and bowling both are working as they should be. The point of concern is the way they had to struggle to overhaul Scotland’s total has to be considered just a hiccup in their campaign.

Kane Williamson played like a man on mission and proved that he was grossly underpriced in the recent IPL auction. The batsman cashed on some match practice in the match despite the fall of wickets. The bowlers were in best form, stifling the Scottish batsmen. Daniel Vettori showed his class and will continue doing so against the out of form English batsmen.

England:

England have to think a lot about their playing XI as all of their bowlers went for runs as the Australian batsmen ran rough on their bowling. Even the hat-trick from Steven Finn was not able to hide the fact that English bowling is not effective in any way.

Not that their batting is any good. Mitchell Marsh ran through their top and middle order which included their entire best batsman. England only found some solace in the inning of James Taylor who scored a brilliant 98 before being stranded on it when James Anderson was given run out in a controversial decision.

They need to think about bringing Alex Hales in the fold to give some impetus to their innings in the beginning. He is a proved hitter and can play perfect foil to James Taylor and Joe Root. Eoin Morgan’s absent form is the biggest chink in England’s armor and they would hope that he will fire against New Zealand, because if they lose this match, they will be in a big spot of bother for the rest of the tournament.

Last 5 ODIs:
NZ: W W L W W

Eng: L L W L W

Possible playing XI:
NZ: Brendon McCullum (C), Corey Anderson, Trent Boult, Grant Elliott, Martin Guptill, Tom Latham, Mitchell McClenaghan, Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, Adam Milne, Luke Ronchi (WK), Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Daniel Vettori, Kane Williamson

ENG: Moeen Ali, Ian Bell, James Root, James Taylor, Eoin Morgan (C), Jos Buttler (WK), Ravi Bopara, Chris Woakes, Steven Finn, Stuart Board, James Anderson