Abu Dhabi: Favourites England will take on underdogs New Zealand as they both vie for reserving the final berth in the first semifinal of the mega event here on Wednesday.
England are coming into the game after losing their final group match to South Africa and also losing their inform batsman Jason Roy, who suffered a calf injury against the Springboks in the same match. In this scenario, Jonny Bairstow's promotion to bat with Jos Buttler is high on cards.
The loss of Roy may not bother captain Eoin Morgan as most of the batsmen have spent good time in the middle and Buttler is the only batsman, who has cracked a century in the entire tournament so far.
There is a strong likelihood of Morgan drafting in Sam Billings to give cushion in the middle order.
However, Morgan may face hiccups in the bowling department with the absence of Tymal Mills, who was brilliant in death overs, which the New Zealand batsmen would like to exploit. But, he would like to intelligently use Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid.
Moeen could be a good fodder as he has played on these tracks here for trophy-winning Chennai Super Kings a month ago.
The England skipper has the privilege to use the pace of Chris Woakes ably supplemented by Chris Jordan, but could be unsure about Mark Wood, whose subtleties don't offer England quite the same versatility as Mills'.
Unlike England, New Zealand come into the match after facing three must-win matches in a row to save themselves from elimination. Undoubtedly, their players have been exhausted physically, but mentally stayed strong in a medley of spotless wins against Scotland, Namibia and Afghanistan.
Amidst all this, skipper Kane Williamson's men will not keep their eyes away from the title cup.
New Zealand will be perfectly happy to be tagged as the underdogs, despite reaching the acme in the ICC Test ranking after defeating India in the World Test Championship final. But, the underdog tag has done a great disservice to New Zealand's record in ICC events as they lost both the encounters on paper.
Besides, the Kiwis have an array of ammunition, especially in the bowling department, to put pressure on rivals. Trent Boult is a skillful operator at both start and the end and Tim Southee is a resurgent seam specialist.
Spinners Ish Sodhi and Mitchell Santner have been impressive. The Punjabi lad has bowled nagging line and length, restricting opposition to unleash strokes against them.
Adam Milne, who came into the side due to Lockie Ferguson's absence, has succeeded to fit into his boots.
New Zealand's batsmen also are not far behind in contributing with their blades. Opener Martin Guptill is the highest run-getter in the tournament and his partner also is in good form.
Guptil has amassed 176 runs at 35.20 and a strike-rate of 131.34, in the tournament so far, which implies that he is ready for an onslaught.
Williamson also has gotten runs under his belt and would be eager to make a huge mark on a batting pitch at Abu Dhabi.
Squads
England: Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, James Vince, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood, Tom Curran, Reece Topley.
New Zealand: Kane Williamson (c), Todd Astle, Trent Boult, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Martin Guptill, Kyle Jamieson, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Adam Milne.
Match starts 7.30 PM IST. (UNI)
