Which side are you on this time? New Zealand might ask this question of lady luck. That’s not how cricket matches are won and lost, one may argue. But how can you fault the Black Caps, after living through that harsh evening at Lord’s at the 2019 ODI World Cup final. Didn’t the universe appear to conspire against them? How else would one explain Ben Stokes’ elbow giving England those four extra runs from overthrows in the final over? It wasn’t even intentional like Maradona’s “Hand of God”. Then the freakish boundary-count rule in the Super Over.
Skipper Kane Williamson and his side would have endured the agony of that World Cup final on tape a few times. Surely there would be some in the current New Zealand side—seven of this squad played in that final—who would be pumped up to avenge that loss when the teams face-off in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday for a place in the T20 World Cup final.
But they won’t tell. They certainly don’t choke under any external pressure. That’s the beauty about this New Zealand team. “It was an amazing game to be a part of,” Williamson revisited that final in his pre-match media talk on Tuesday. “Although at the time, the aftermath was very difficult to understand and perhaps didn’t make a lot of sense. But that is what it is. You play by the rules and you move on and you look forward to the next challenge.”
TESTED PLANS
There were a billion-plus Indians egging on Afghanistan to beat New Zealand in what was a virtual quarter-final last week. But they didn’t digress from their meticulous processes. That’s how New Zealand have again earned a shot at taking out pre-tournament favourites England off the perch. England have long been playing T20 cricket at domestic level. Now, they also have The Hundred to improve. New Zealand’s best T20 cricketers upskill themselves at The Hundred and IPL.
“The evolution of the England side, and particularly the white ball side, has been significant over a number of years. They have got a lot of experienced T20 players. As a collective, they’re playing some really good cricket,” said Williamson. “We know it’s a nice challenge that we’re looking forward to.”
Both teams have overcome varied pitch conditions and opponents. England were in the tougher group, beat stronger teams and their only loss came against South Africa, after qualification was ensured during the game. New Zealand are coming off three afternoon games on the bounce, at different venues. They were not clinical in the group stages, losing to Pakistan and stretched by Scotland. But they looked almost at their best against Afghanistan in the last match. Neither team has played an evening game at Abu Dhabi in the competition, a venue where seamers have been the effective in the powerplay. It has also been the most batting friendly of the three UAE venues.
England’s immediate challenge is to settle on the replacement for the injured Jason Roy, to partner the dynamic Jos Buttler at the top. With Trent Boult and Tim Southee, the wily swing masters who are expected to come in hard in the first six overs, this becomes important for England. They could either introduce a like-for-like replacement in the less experienced opener James Vince or promote Dawid Malan or Jonny Bairstow and bring in Sam Billings into the middle-order or even an additional bowling option. With New Zealand expected to bowl eight overs of spin from Ish Sodhi and Mitchell Santner, England will try to ensure they have the right match-ups to counter them.
DEATH BOWLING
England’s weakness in this World Cup has been their death overs bowling (economy 10.21). They were relying on Tymal Mills, but he is out injured. Whether Mark Wood and Chris Jordan can do the job or whether skipper Eoin Morgan nominates a surprise pick will be worth watching. New Zealand don’t have a particularly dangerous lower middle-order with the team relying on Glenn Philips and James Neesham to bat on and inflict some damage towards the end.
What New Zealand do have is in-form openers in the seasoned Martin Guptill and surprise pick Daryl Mitchell. Both, followed by ice-cool Williamson, are three right-handed reasons why England may choose to bowl leg-spinner Adil Rashid than Moeen Ali’s off-spin in the powerplay.
Morgan has been short of runs, but remains the architect of what England have achieved in limited-overs cricket in the past six years. The team hasn’t faltered even in the absence of talisman Stokes, pace ace Jofra Archer and others. “If we can get to the final, it would be a hell of an achievement,” Morgan said. “It would be a really strong representation of what our 50-overs sides have achieved since 2015. We had a glimpse of that this summer when we had to replace all 15 players, and we beat Pakistan 3-0.”
Morgan said being a knockout game or the injury setbacks won’t see any letup in their attacking instincts. In Stokes’ absence, the England captain tipped the destructive Liam Livingstone to be someone with “the ability to contribute like him at any stage”.
