CWC NewZealand150England clash with New Zealand in the Cricket World Cup in Durham on Wednesday and the winner of this game will advance to the semi finals.

 

 

 

England:

England went in to Sunday’s must win game against India in Birmingham having slipped out of the top 4 positions but they were back to their best and a 31 run victory keeps their semi final destiny in their own hands.

England won the toss and opted to bat first on Sunday. Jason Roy was back in the side and he and Jonny Bairstow put on 160 for the first wicket in just 22.1 overs. Roy made a quickfire 66, Bairtsow went on to top score with 111 and Joe Root made 44. Ben Stokes was in great touch in the later stages of the innings with 79 off 54 balls and England posted 337/7.

In reply India struggled early on and after 10 overs they were 27/1. Kohli (66) and Rohit Sharma (102) put India back in the game and Hardik Pandya (45 off 33) then looked threatening. However England held their nerve with Liam Plunkett (3/55) and Woakes (2/55) among the wickets and Archer’s economy rate of 4.50 was another big factor as India’s innings closed on 306/5. .  

England still need to win this game to overtake New Zealand in the standings and guarantee a top 4 finish.

Earlier results include a 104 run win against South Africa, a 14 run defeat to Pakistan, a 106 run win over Bangladesh, an 8 wicket victory over West Indies and a 150 run demolition of Afghanistan. England then suffered a 20 run shock defeat to Sri Lanka and a 64 run loss to Australia.

Joe Root is leading run scorer for England with 476, Ben Stokes has 370 and Jonny Bairstow has 356. Jofra Archer is leading wicket taker with 16, Mark Wood has 13 and Chris Woakes has 9.

This was how England lined up against India last time out.

Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan (capt), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (wk), Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Liam Plunkett, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood

 

 

New Zealand:

This is New Zealand’s final match of the round robin stage, they have 11 log points against their name and if they lose this game their position in the top 4 will depend on other results, particularly the game between Bangladesh and Pakistan on Friday.

New Zealand were beaten by Australia by 86 runs at Lords on Saturday, a second successive defeat. They had Australia in trouble at 92/5 but a century partnership for the sixth wicket brought Australia back into the game. Trent Boult claimed a hat-trick and 4 wickets in total as the Australian innings closed on 243/9.

It was a difficult track for batting and New Zealand struggled to put partnerships together in their reply. Kane Williamson (40) top scored again but the writing was on the wall from some way out and the Black Caps were bowled out for 157 in 43.4 overs.

In earlier games New Zealand beat Sri Lanka by 10 wickets, Bangladesh by 2 wickets, Afghanistan by 7 wickets and South Africa by 4 wickets. A scheduled meeting with India was completely washed out, they held on to beat West Indies by 5 runs and they lost to Pakistan by 6 wickets.

Kane Williamson is top run scorer for New Zealand with 454, Ross Taylor has 233 and James Neesham has 182. With the ball Lockie Ferguson has taken 17 wickets, Trent Boult has 13 and James Neesham has 9.

This was how New Zealand lined up against Australia last time out.

Martin Guptill, Henry Nicholls, Kane Williamson (capt), Ross Taylor, Tom Latham (wk), James Neesham, Colin de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult

 

Head to Head

The teams have met 89 times with England winning 40, New Zealand have won 43 with 2 ties and 4 no results.

The most recent meetings came in New Zealand early in 2018 and England came out on top of a ding dong battle with a 3-2 win.

 

The Betting, Click here for all markets

England 9/20

New Zealand 18/10

Note prices quoted are correct at the time of publication but are subject to change.

 

Verdict:

After a very solid performance at the weekend England have their momentum back whilst New Zealand have been stuttering of late and I fancy the hosts can get the job done. The Black Caps seem over reliant on Kane Williamson for runs and unless the skipper finds some support in that department New Zealand could struggle to stay within the pre-match handicap.

 

Suggested Bets:

Pre Match Handicap, England -3.5 Wkts / -18.5 Runs at 9/10

Click here for all CWC markets.

Claim your 1st deposit bonus of up to R10,000 here 

 

forumRemember you can have your own say on all this week’s matches on our discussion forum