Four years after that contentious grand finale at the Lord's, England and New Zealand are all set to kick off the proceedings for 2023 World Cup, at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Thursday, and the expectations will remain a similar, nail-biting tie. It might just provide a perfect start to the tournament, which seems to have flown under the radar amid talks about the format and the issues pertaining to the security and schedule in the build-up to it. But will it be England scripting a repeat or New Zealand dishing out a perfect revenge?
What does the head-to-head tie say?
Just like the 2019 World Cup final, England and New Zealand stand inseparable in terms of head-to-head meetings with five wins, including that Lord's result, and as many losses against the Blackcaps. Extend that to 95 matches across competitions and bilateral series starting from their maiden encounter in 1973, the result remains the same - 44 wins and as many defeats with three tied games.
However, it is England who stand ahead in the four meetings they have had in this format since the 2019 World Cup. While New Zealand avenged their defeat in Cardiff last month in the four-match series, England won the remaining three.
England vs New Zealand Live Score, World Cup 2023
History further whispers that this isn't the first time they have opened a World Cup edition against each other. Incidentally, it was right in Ahmedabad, back in 1996, at the Sardar Patel Stadium where Nathan Astle's century for the Lee Germon-led side helped New Zealand beat Mike Atherton's England by 11 runs.
New Zealand without Southee, Williamson
{{/usCountry}}History further whispers that this isn't the first time they have opened a World Cup edition against each other. Incidentally, it was right in Ahmedabad, back in 1996, at the Sardar Patel Stadium where Nathan Astle's century for the Lee Germon-led side helped New Zealand beat Mike Atherton's England by 11 runs.
New Zealand without Southee, Williamson
{{/usCountry}}India, England, Australia - these have been the most common top-three picks for every veteran cricketer or expert as their 2023 Word Cup prediction for the semifinal round. It is the fourth team that has caused the difference with only a handful of them backing New Zealand on sheer grounds of the impact they have made in ICC events over the last couple of editions. And while the Blackcaps always arrive as one of the teams to look out for, injuries have caused a major worry over their 2023 World Cup chances. In fact, in the build-up to the tournament, they were roughly picking from a 13-man squad with Kane Williamson and Tim Southee out with injuries. The skipper is however expected to return from the second match onwards, there is no definitive time on the possible availability of Southee although stand-in captain Tom Latham did sound optimistic when asked about an update in the pre-match presser.
But while, New Zealand will not have two of their key players, England might miss Ben Stokes, who came out of ODI retirement for the World Cup, owing to a hip niggle, which even saw him being absent from the warm-up tie against Bangladesh on Monday.
Who will win England vs New Zealand?
Given the availability of players, and recent results, England do stand favourites despite the absence of Stokes. As hinted by captain Jos Buttler, England might be looking at four pacers for the opening tie given the seam-friendly conditions at Ahmedabad, and they do have a variery of options to pick from.
Predicted playing XI:
New Zealand - Devon Conway, Will Young, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (c,wk), Glenn Phillips, Jimmy Neesham/Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Matt Henry, Trent Boult, Lockie Ferguson.
England - Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes/Harry Brook, Jos Buttler (c,wk), Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood.