Kiwis take on England in a do-or-die encounter

By Rahul Bajaj
for Cricketain.com

Published: September 29, 2009

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Johannesburg: At the start of the Champions Trophy, very few people would have given New Zealand a chance of reaching the semi-finals. But after an inspired win over Sri Lanka, a resurgent Kiwi outfit will face England in a do-or-die encounter at Johannesburg.

After being beaten comprehensively by South Africa in their first match, the Kiwis came back strongly to beat Sri Lanka by 38 runs to put their Champions Trophy campaign back on track but they still face a final hurdle in their road to the semis with the in-form England standing in their way. If New Zealand pull off a win on Tuesday, they would be through to the semis but if they lose it will come down to the net run-rate and the Sri Lankans are far ahead of the Kiwis in that aspect.

Brendon McCullum, Jesse Ryder and Martin Guptill were the architects of their big win against Sri Lanka and with Daniel Vettori firing down the order, the till now inconsistent Kiwi batting lineup suddenly seems formidable. However, with Ryder ruled out of the squad due to a groin injury sustained on Sunday, New Zealand will have to sort out a new strategy for their top order.

Ryder’s omission will mean that Aaron Redmond may get a chance to make his ODI debut and he would look to grab the opportunity with both hands. Among the pacers, Kyle Mills and Daryl Tuffey have done a brilliant job till now but their spearhead Shane Bond, who returned to the national fold after a stint with ICL, is yet to fire. Vettori himself, like always, has been wily with the ball and has troubled the opposition batsmen.

On the other hand, England has been in formidable form, registering two wins from as many matches and the team seems to have put behind their 1-6 drubbing at the hands of Australia during their ODI home series. Owais Shah, Eoin Morgan and Paul Collingwood have done the bulk of the scoring for England so far and skipper Andrew Strauss would want his team to not lose the momentum even thought the game is a dead rubber for them.

Teams (from):

New Zealand: Daniel Vettori (c), Shane Bond, Neil Broom, Ian Butler, Brendon Diamanti, Grant Elliott, Martin Guptill, Gareth Hopkins, Brendon McCullum, Kyle Mills, James Franklin, Jeetan Patel, Jesse Ryder, Ross Taylor, Daryl Tuffey.

England: Andrew Strauss (C), Ravi Bopara, Luke Wright, Owais Shah, Paul Collingwood, Joe Denly, Eoin Morgan, Graham Onions, Matt Prior, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Adil Rashid, James Anderson, Ryan Sidebottom and Graeme Swann.

Match starts 6 pm IST.

Tagged with: Aaron Redmond, Andrew Strauss, Brendon McCullum, Daniel Vettori, Daryl Tuffey, England, Eoin Morgan, Jesse Ryder, Johannesburg, Kyle Mills, Martin Guptill, New Zealand, Owais Shah, Paul Collinwood, Shane Bond

Kiwis take on England in a do-or-die encounter

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