Morgan backs his boys to show they can man up by grabbing revenge
England ‘different side’ since World Cup shame Beating New Zealand would seal last-four spot
It was “men against boys” the last time these two teams met in a global tournament but today’s game in Cardiff will be a grown-up affair with England and New Zealand capable of destroying each other.
It was in Wellington in 2015 that New Zealand heaped humiliation on England, defeating them with such brutal precision that their World Cup campaign never recovered. They were cut down by Tim Southee’s seven for 33 and then left shellshocked as Brendon Mccullum launched a vicious assault with the bat, hitting 77 off 25 balls as New Zealand chased down their 124 target in only 12.2 overs.
From that nadir, a new England have emerged. Eoin Morgan based his reconstruction of England’s one-day cricket on the style of Mccullum’s New Zealand and they meet in Cardiff today as equals.
This is the pivotal match of the group stage. A win for England will assure passage to the next round. Lose, and they will have to beat Australia in Birmingham on Satur- day – and there is nothing Steve Smith’s team would love to do more than knock England out of their own tournament six months before the Ashes start.
Selection for this match will be difficult. The short straight boundary in Cardiff measures only 63metres, putting it one metre under ICC minimum requirements (it is exempt because the ground had international status before the regulations changed in 2007).
New Zealand hit powerfully straight and the short blow down the ground has stopped England picking two spinners in the past, so a return for Adil Rashid appears unlikely.
‘It was sort of men against boys but it’s now different two years down the line’
The choice is between Steven Finn and David Willey to replace the injured Chris Woakes.
Willey has struggled since shoulder surgery in January but a session with fast-bowling coach Kevin Shine at the weekend has resulted in him rediscovering his swing and the England batsmen said he was the hardest bowler to face when the team trained on Sunday.
Morgan hinted that he would show loyalty to those in the original squad, which would put Willey ahead of Finn. The other route into the side for Finn is to replace Jake Ball, who struggled against Bangladesh, but England want to give him as much experience as possible.
Finn is one of the five survivors in the squad from the Wellington mauling two years ago when he was treated with total disdain by Mccullum. Finn’s two overs cost 49 runs, more than four per ball, and he has been only an occasional selection since, in which time England have beaten New Zealand at home and Morgan has stamped his mark on the team.
“It was sort of men against boys. But it’s completely different now, two years down the line. We’ve got a new team, pretty much,” he said. “A lot of it has to do with confidence. You only build confidence by producing performances and winning. The combination of that and playing more games as a team and as individuals makes you more experienced as a side.
“So, we come into this tournament full of confidence and knowing that the conditions we’re going to play in, we’ve played in before and have had success in before.”
New Zealand dominated Australia with bat and ball before rain washed out their opening match last week. Kane Williamson’s hundred matched Joe Root’s against Bangladesh for class, the hitting of Luke Ronchi at the top proved there is life after Mccullum and Ross Taylor is an experienced calming presence in the middle order.
But they failed to go on against Australia and post the 320-run total that was there for the taking, and, against South Africa and Bangladesh, England proved capable of dragging an innings back.