The first semi-final of ICC Twenty20 world cup 2016 is going to be an exciting clash as two biggest cricketing nations England and New Zealand are set to play against each other to seal final spot. New Zealand team is coming in the knockout stage by winning all their group matches whereas England lost only one game in the super=10 stage which was against West Indies.
Head to Head WT20
England 2:2 New Zealand
Preview
The head to head rivalry between two nations is maintaining an equal record as England and New Zealand have succeed to win two-two games against each other in the history of ICC World T20 championship. Wednesday’s wt20 clash will be the first occasion when these two teams are playing against each other in a knockout match. Before this in past 4 meetings, they faced off in group stages.
Blackcaps are having a 100% win record in the competition so far and have beaten up top favorite teams of the event like India, Australia and Pakistan to qualify for semi-finals. NZ skipper Kane Williamson has analyzed wickets, pitches and conditions better than any other captain in the tournament. Spinners Ish Sodhi and Mitchell Santner have done great job for Kiwis so far and took some crucial wickets in the event.
Martin Guptill has been playing sensational along with captain Kane Williamson at the top. Colin Munro and Corey Anderson have also been playing their parts. The most important to watch out for New Zealand is that they are depending a lot on spinners and openers Williamson and Guptill. Other batsmen like Ross Taylor needs to perform for Kiwis to beat England in a crucial semi-final.
On the other hand England has been playing good cricket overall though they struggled against Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. Still they won those crunch games to be in the semifinals for the second time. Last time English team played semi-final in 2010 wt20 tournament and later on they became champions of that season. So Eoin Morgan & Company will be looking to win the second ICC World Twenty20 trophy for England this year and before that they have to give best against Kiwis.
England are depending on their batting line up a lot. Jason Roy, Joe Root and Jos Buttler have been performing well for team in the tournament so far. Eoin Morgan and Alex Hales haven’t played as good as they are but are big occasion players and can make it count on 30th march. On this Kotla’s wicket, English batsmen struggled a lot against Afghanistan’s spinners and lost 7 wickets on 54. NZ will surely be looking to do the same with their inform spin bowlers. Hence England needs to be aware of it
Squads
England
Eoin Morgan (Captain), Joe Root, James Vince, Jos Buttler, Reece Topley, Adil Rashid, Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, Chris Jordan, David Willey, Liam Plunkett, Alex Hales, Sam Billings, Jason Roy, Liam Dawson.
New Zealand
Kane Williamson (Captain), Adam Milne, Trent Boult, Martin Guptill, Corey Anderson, Mitchell McClenaghan, Colin Munro, Nathan McCullum, Henry Nicholls, Mitchell Santner, Luke Ronchi, Ross Taylor, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Grant Elliott.
Read more: Leading run scorers in world t20
Predictions
The Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium pitch always support bowlers and it is quite helpful to batsmen at times. Spinners play crucial role on this Delhi’s wicket and we can expect the same in the first semifinal between Blackcaps and England.
Expected first inning score on this pitch can be near about 150-155.
See more: NZ vs ENG live streaming info
Though New Zealand are favorites to win but as per our predictions, England can stun Kiwis and win the match. English team has got 53 percent winning chances over NZ in the 1st semi-final of world t20 2016.