ENG vs NZ 41st Match Prediction

ENG vs NZ Team Previews

England

England was under pressure going into the match against India. It had not beaten India in a World Cup match since 1992. The players did not let that faze them as they played their natural aggressive game against India and never let the match slip out of their reach.

Another batting pitch is expected for this match and the focus will once again be on the England batsmen.

Jason Roy returned to the side and made an immediate impact. His partnership with Bairstow at the top is very important for England to continue winning matches. It helps that Joe Root, Eoin Morgan, Ben Stokes, and Jos Buttler are all in good form as well.

The only concern would a potential weakness against the short ball for Eoin Morgan. He has now got out twice against the short ball while looking a bit unstable. We have no doubt that Lockie Ferguson is going to be brought into the attack as soon as Eoin Morgan steps on the batting crease.

England’s batting is strong enough to outhit any other lineup in the world but it needs to be careful of losing early wickets as well. We saw that England struggled when Roy was out of the team and the team did not get the kind of starts it wanted.

England’s bowling attack was changed a bit in the match against India. Moeen Ali was left out and Liam Plunkett made a comeback into the side. We think that is the best balance for England since it allows them more control and option during the end-overs.

Eventually, though, the nature of the pitch on match day will decide whether Moeen Ali plays or not. After his performance in the previous match, leaving Liam Plunkett out of the side would be very harsh.

New Zealand

A convincing defeat to Pakistan and then an even bigger defeat against Australia has made dented the confidence of the New Zealand team. They had been unbeaten in the ICC World Cup 2019 up until that time but are struggling against the really big teams.

This match against England is important for New Zealand to win as well since they would not want to leave anything to chance when it comes to qualifying for the semi-final.

New Zealand has some big problems at the top of the batting order. Martin Guptill has not been at his best in this tournament and that is putting a lot of pressure on Kane Williamson. Even Ross Taylor, having a golden period in ODI cricket, has been unable to score runs like the way he was expected to.

Henry Nicholls is a good addition at the top of the order but is not as explosive as Colin Munro is. This will once again put more pressure on the other batsmen to get the runs quickly.

The batting lineup is quite deep with Mitchell Santner at number 8 but it does not match England in terms of quality. Jimmy Neesham and Colin de Grandhomme have played very well in the chances they have got but you always sense there is a chance with them at the crease.

New Zealand included Ish Sodhi in the team instead of Matt Henry in the previous match. We are not sure if they are going to play him in this match. England took a liking to India’s spinners and they may look to target Sodhi.

Expect Matt Henry to make a comeback into the side.

Trent Boult and Lockie Ferguson have been the best bowlers for New Zealand so far. We think Lockie Ferguson has the pace to be able to pick up wickets in the middle overs while Trent Boult will want to utilize any swing he gets with the new ball.

These two bowlers certainly have the capability to put the England batting under serious pressure. The risk is with overs from Neesham, de Grandhomme, and Williamson (if needed).