England (ENG) will be up against New Zealand (NZ) in the 1st match of the ICC Cricket World Cup at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on October 5. England have not lost any of their last five games and seems to be in great touch for the World Cup. New Zealand, on the other hand, have been decent in the last few days, winning their last two games.
England played against Bangladesh in their last match, which was a warm-up game for the World Cup, where Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bat. Bangladesh had a shaky start as they lost two of their wickets cheaply, but the pair Tanzid and Mehidy calmed the storm. However, once the partnership broke, they started losing wickets again, and in a rain-affected match of 37 overs a side, they scored 188 runs. England did not break a sweat to chase this total down as they won the match by four wickets easily.
New Zealand squared off against South Africa in their last match, where New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat. After a decent opening stand, New Zealand had a string of fantastic partnerships, with almost their entire batting line-up contributing significantly. They posted a strong total of 321 runs on the board, in reply to which South Africa lost a wicket early but came back well with the next wicket. However, the match could not be continued and was affected by rain, due to which it had to be stopped, and New Zealand won the match by seven runs.
PROBABLE PLAYING XI
England
JE Root, HC Brook, Ben Stokes, SM Curran, MM Ali, LS Livingstone, JM Bairstow, Jos Buttler (C), AU Rashid, Mark Wood, RJW Topley
BENCH : DJ Malan, Chris Woakes, DJ Willey, AAP Atkinson
New Zealand
Devon Conway, WA Young, DJ Mitchell, Mitchell Santner, Rachin Ravindra, Tom Latham (C), Glenn Phillips, Trent Boult, LH Ferguson, MJ Henry, Ish Sodhi
BENCH : Tim Southee, Kane Williamson, MS Chapman, James Neesham
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