CWC NewZealand150New Zealand and England will contest the final of the 2019 Cricket World Cup at Lords on Sunday; neither team has won this trophy before and England start as short price favourites.

 

 

 

New Zealand:

After losing their final 3 matches of the round robin stage and just clinging on to fourth place ahead of Pakistan on net run rate New Zealand were underdogs for their semi final against India in Manchester. However the Black Caps came through with an 18 run victory in a game which went into a second day due to rain. New Zealand had to work hard to post 239/8 with Ross Taylor (74) and Kane Williamson (67) the top scorers in a carefully managed innings. The New Zealand bowlers tore into India and at 92/6 it looked like game over but a century partnership for the seventh wicket set up a tense finish. India were finally bowled out for 221/1 with 3 balls to spare with Matt Henry’s 3/37 the best bowling figures.

New Zealand played just 1 match at Lords in this tournament, an 86 run defeat to Australia where they were bowled out for 157 after the Aussies posted 243/9.

New Zealand’s only previous appearance in the final came in 2015 when they lost to Australia in Melbourne by 7 wickets.

Round Robin Results: Sri Lanka (won by 10 wickets), Bangladesh (won by 2 wickets), Afghanistan (won by 7 wickets), India (no result), South Africa (won by 4 wickets), West Indies (won by 5 runs), Pakistan (lost by 6 wickets), Australia (lost by 86 runs), England (lost by 119 runs).

Top Run Scorers: Kane Williamson 548, Ross Taylor 335, James Neesham 213.

Top Bowlers: Lockie Ferguson 18 wickets, Trent Boult 17, Matt Henry 13.

This was how New Zealand lined up against India in the semi finals.

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

 

 

England:

England sealed their place in the final with an 8 wicket win over Australia at Edgbaston on Thursday. They had Australia in early trouble at 14/3 and eventually found themselves chasing 224 for victory. Chris Woakes (3/20) was the pick of the England bowlers. In reply Jason Roy smashed 85 off 65 balls and after Bairtsow was out for 34 Joe Root (49) and Eoin Morgan (45) took England home in just 32.1 overs.

England’s chances of reaching the semi finals had looked in the balance but they proved they could handle the pressure with victory in do or die games against India and New Zealand to finish third on the log, 1 point better off than New Zealand.

This will be England’s first appearance in the final since 1992 when they lost to Pakistan in Melbourne by 22 runs. They also finished as runners up to Australia in India in 1997 (lost by 7 runs) and West Indies at Lords in 1979 (lost by 92 runs).

England’s only match at Lords so far also came against Australia and they were beaten by 64 runs, bowled out for 221 after Australia posted 285/7.

Round Robin Results: South Africa (won by 104 runs), Pakistan (lost by 14 runs), Bangladesh (won by 106 runs), West Indies (won by 8 wickets), Afghanistan (won 150 runs), Sri Lanka (lost by 20 runs), Australia (lost by 64 runs), India (won by 31 runs), New Zealand (won by 119 runs)

Top Run Scorers: Joe Root 549, Jonny Bairstow 496, Jason Roy 426.

Top Bowlers: Jofra Archer 19 wickets, Mark Wood 17, Chris Woakes 13.

This was how England lined up against Australia in the semi finals.

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

 

Head to Head

The teams met in Durham in Match 31 and England, who needed to win to avoid elimination, came out on top by 119 runs.

Batting first England posted 305/8 with Bairstow (106) and Roy (60) getting them off to a flyer and Morgan contributed 42. New Zealand lost early wickets and there was no way back as they were bowled out for 196 in 45 overs with Latham top scoring with 57. Mark Wood was top England bowler with 3/34.

Overall the teams have met 90 times with England winning 41, New Zealand have won 43 with 2 ties and 4 no results.

 

The Betting, Click here for all markets

New Zealand 5/2

England 1/3

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

 

Verdict:

There are bound to be nerves around but England have proved they can handle pressure in delivering in their last 3 matches, all of which were stay alive affairs. Although only 1 point separated the teams in the standings I think England will have too much for New Zealand who’s openers have been short of runs.

For a betting interest the headline pick is Joe Root to score 39 or more runs, a figure that should be well within the compass of England’s top run scorer in the tournament.

For additional interest the same player gets the vote to score to score 5 or more 4’s in his innings.

 

Suggested Bets:

Batsman match runs, Joe Root, over 38.5 runs at 9/10.

Batsman match 4’s Joe Root, over 4.5 at 9/10

Click here for all 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