Colombo. The New Zealand team will look to secure a place in the semi-finals by performing well against England in the Super 8 match of the T20 World Cup. In the last match, the Kiwi team had given a big victory against Sri Lanka on the basis of its spinners. England has already reached the semi-finals by winning both the matches, but this match is also important for them, because it will decide the top team in the group. New Zealand is closer to the semi-finals after its 61-run win against Sri Lanka, as its net run rate has become good. New Zealand’s net run rate is +3.050 and in the next match they just have to see that even if they lose to England, the margin of defeat remains less. On the other hand, after the defeat by England, Pakistan’s net run rate has become -0.461. Pakistan will have to expect a big defeat of New Zealand and will also have to defeat Sri Lanka by a big margin in their last match.
New Zealand proved that it was comfortable playing with six spinners against Sri Lanka and that is why it achieved a big win. In this match, there can be an interesting contest between the spinners of New Zealand and the batsmen of England. Captain Harry Brook and all-rounder Will Jacques, who scored centuries against Pakistan, both played well against spinners like Saim Ayub, Mohammad Nawaz and Shadab Khan, but now they face the challenge of New Zealand, whose spinners Mitchell Santner, Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips and Cole McConchie can be more effective on the pitch of Premadasa Stadium.
New Zealand will compete for the semi-final ticket.
Brook is in good form, but Jos Buttler will have to improve his performance. He has not done anything special in the tournament yet. England’s position will improve with a good start from Butler. On the other hand, Jacques’ off spin and Liam Dawson’s left arm spin can also be challenging. If spinners are bowling on Premadasa’s pitch, a score between 165 to 175 can be enough to win.
New Zealand all-rounder Ravindra performed well in batting and bowling against Sri Lanka and said that even though their spin attack is strong, it would be a mistake to take England lightly. Ravindra said, there is confidence in playing in such a match, especially when we have an idea of the pitch. But I think it would be foolish to ever take England lightly. He said, his team is very good. Their bowlers are doing well and they have world class players at the bottom of the batting. But Ravindra knows that there will be a new challenge for New Zealand on Friday. Ravindra said, the victory against Sri Lanka has boosted our morale, but we know that after two days we will have a different challenge. Hopefully we will be fully prepared for this.
England team: Harry Brook (captain), Jos Buttler (wicketkeeper), Tom Banton, Jacob Bethel, Phil Salt (wicketkeeper), Ben Duckett, Sam Curran, Will Jacques, Jamie Overton, Rehan Ahmed, Liam Dawson, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Josh Tong, Luke Wood.
New Zealand team: Mitchell Santner (captain), Finn Allen, Tim Seifert, Devon Conway, Mark Chapman, Cole McConchie, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, Rachin Ravindra, Jacob Duffy, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Ish Sodhi. Match start time: 7 pm.