DELHI, India — New Zealand stake their unbeaten record at the 2016 World T20 against a revived England on Wednesday with a place in the final up for grabs.
The Kiwis have been the form team thus far, adapting to Indian conditions with considerable aplomb.
Their spinners Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi have excelled, taking 17 wickets between them – more than any other duo outside of Bangladesh and Afghanistan, whose bowlers featured in the qualifiers.
Here in Delhi, however, the seamers have had far more joy with England’s Chris Jordan (5) and David Willey (4) leading the way with the most wickets on this ground.
It may tempt New Zealand to give a first appearance to Trent Boult or Tim Southee, with Kane Williamson already showing that he is willing to chop and change his side based on conditions.
Eoin Morgan said in the build-up that the fresh wicket in Delhi again looks to have a good covering of grass and, having played their past two matches here at the Feroz Shah Kotla, the England skipper is confident that their understanding of the wicket will stand them in good stead.
For, New Zealand, there is the prospect of a second World Cup final in a row, and a first at a World T20, having been defeated by Australia in the 50-over showpiece last year; the Black Caps will be desperate to land a first ICC trophy.
England won the tournament in the West Indies back in 2010 and of that squad only Morgan remains.
He believes that this team resembles the glorious outfit of six years ago but will be all too aware of the threat posed by a rampant Kiwi side that are favourites to advance.
WHAT THEY SAID
KANE WILLIAMSON:
I think it’s almost impossible to give someone the favourite tag in T20 cricket, it’s so fickle in nature that on any given day the team who plays the best wins and anyone can beat anyone. Both pools were very strong and all teams had the desire to go all the way and believed that they could. It’s nice we’ve been playing some good cricket and hopefully we can bring it out in a knockout game
EOIN MORGAN:
The guys that we’ve selected have done outstandingly well and shown a great amount of attitude in learning. It’s not always easy to come up against very strong sides who knock you back on a day-to-day basis, but every question that’s been asked of us we’ve come back with either a counter-answer or a more aggressive option.
PREDICTION
Although New Zealand are much fancied to secure victory this should be their toughest test to date and how well they cope with the occasion will go a long way to deciding the outcome. England look like they’re hitting their straps and finding a formula at the right time and having settled here in Delhi have a huge advantage. England win.
PREDICTED LINEUPS
New Zealand: Guptill, Williamson (c), Monro, Anderson, Taylor, Ronchi (wk), Elliott, Santner, McClenaghan, Boult, Sodhi
England: Roy, Hales, Root, Morgan (c), Buttler, Stokes, Moeen, Willey, Jordan, Rashid, Plunkett
