England, New Zealand to fight inner demons in a must-win battle

Margin of defeat doesn’t always reveal the distance

Venue:Pallekele international stadium

Time: 15:30 IST | 10:00 GMT

England and New Zealand walk into this match with the pain of near misses in their mind. This way, you can call them equals who missed luck by a whisker. But this isn’t entirely true.

Even if you sympathise with New Zealand for losing out in the super over of only the second tie in WorldT20, you will have to accept that it was largely their inept bowling against Sri Lanka’s top-order that got them to the super over.

Battling common issues of batting team combination

The batting has clicked but not in totality. New Zealand’s worry has been their lower middle-order from where the important runs are supposed to come in T20s. Jacob Oram with all his international experience and his familiarity with the Lankan conditions after the SLPL — which Ross Taylor had thought would come handy — has failed to provide anything of substance. Add to that New Zealand’s eternal issues with finding a proper combination and you know where exactly the problem lies.

The Kiwis have a history of playing around with their batting combinations. We have seen players from Daniel Vettori to Adam Parore open the innings. There has never been a dearth of talent, but this confusion regarding one’s role in the team has made the best of the promises go awry. Playing Kane Williamson at number eight makes absolutely no sense.

The 22-year-old, who is a promising top-order batsman, is one of the most talented players in New Zealand cricket today and their future will depend a lot on how much trust they have in him.

If you need to play Williamson, just because he adds value with his bowling, the best way would be to push him up at Guptill’s place and play the latter in the middle-order.

The Kiwis also suffer from the fact that in the squad that they have selected, if one batsman goes down they don’t really have options to back up.

England looks a better balanced team although their losses have been of higher magnitude. After a thumping victory over Afghanistan, they have seen a shameful low against India and their last match’s defeat against West Indies left them with hardly any positives.

England’s playing XI needs rethink

The previous match, which was lost by a narrow margin of 15 runs, on paper, has actually given rise to far bigger questions than the last match provoked.

After coming in as tournament favourites, England all of a sudden are looking like the most vulnerable side: a clear deficiency against spin bowling which was highlighted against India and now they face a whole new issue, that of team combination. Playing four batsmen who are capable of keeping wickets does give you a lot of flexibility but when there’s not much runs coming from them, questions are bound to be asked.

Among the four players — Craig Kieswetter, Alex Hales, Jos Butler and Jonny Bairstow — only Hales and Kieswetter, once, have been able to cross the 20 runs mark. This is a cause of grave concern, for these players form England’s top-order. Kieswetter, who has opened with Hales, has been prone to poor starts. We noticed this against Afghanistan where he was dismissed by Shapoor Zardan for a duck after five dot balls, and in the last match again he could survive only two balls for another zero. The only occasion when he has made runs was against India. He scored 35.

Poms have better bowlers, yet to show results

Bowling has been a concern for both the teams, although England looks far better equipped to tackle their opponents. Both the team’s premier spinners, Daniel Vettori and Graeme Swann, are yet to do anything remarkable in this tournament. But here’s respite for England. With Vettori not in sync, they have much less to worry about.

Players to watch out for

New Zealand

Brendon McCullum – After a blitzkrieg hundred against Bangladesh, reminiscent of his assault in the first match of the first season of the IPL, McCullum has gotten starts but has failed convert them into something equally grand. The occasion might just be waiting.

James Franklin – The left-armer has seen many shifts of roles over the years and it is credit to him that he has moulded himself according to what the situation demands. The bowler, who started mainly as that, has become a complete all-rounder now. His IPL stints with Mumbai Indians have helped but a lot of hard work on his batting has been done back home in domestic competitions. With a Test hundred now and important half-centuries in both the smaller versions, Franklin is a pivot around whom both the batting and bowling revolves. He will be crucial for New Zealand’s chances in this tournament.

Daniel Vettori – The love for the game which has forced him out of T20 retirement is very much there. Luck has been playing peek-a-boo but there’s no denying that he is one of the classiest spinners of our era. England’s poor record against spin is well-known and if Vettori strikes this time he can give them a lot of trouble.

England

Eoin Morgan – With his destructive batting taking the team nowhere in the last match, Morgan will be only half happy about saving his place in the team. The last match’s brilliance was in seclusion and we expect more batsmen to come together in pursuit of runs this time.

Alex Hales – Hales has had some fine starts. Getting out to a very unfortunate dismissal in the first match, must have been playing in his mind. But he made a fine return against West Indies with a half-century. With all the potential that he possesses, we expect him to play longer innings in the coming matches.

Stuart Broad – The England skipper has bowled at an enviable economy rate in the matches so far. With four wickets from three matches, he looks the most productive of the bowlers and will be expected to spearhead the attack again.

Weaknesses

The main problem for England, more than spin, has been its inability to play as a unit.

New Zealand suffers from poor team selection and are still pining for a star player to look up to.

Strengths

England have a far superior bowling attack and the batting too gets an edge.

The Kiwis go into the match a bit more confident, knowing they could pull the last match till super over.

Prediction

On potential, England have more chances of winning.