Kiwis: An all-round team

And the Kiwis have made optimum use of their opportunities blanking Bangladesh and Ireland with ease. However, the Black Caps group that is currently playing in Dublin is without regular captain Kane Williamson, destructive opening batsman Martin Guptill, new-ball pair Tim Southee and Trent Boult and four other players who are in their Champions Trophy squad. 

The missing players are on Indian Premier League duty and New Zealand are not the only nation hampered by the lucrative T20 tournament, which has seen a host of Australian, South African and of course Indian players remain in the subcontinent while the competition concludes. 

With the English conditions conducive for seam bowling, combined with the white kookaburra ball, there can perhaps be no greater threat than Trent Boult. The leftarm pacer can bend it like a very famous England footballer and will undoubtedly target the stumps and pads of his top-order opponents. 

In the last World Cup played on ‘similar’ conditions (2015), Boult was the equal leading wicket-taker alongside fellow southpaw seamer Mitchell Starc and one can expect fireworks from them in the Champions Trophy.

The pressure will be however be on Corey Anderson, who on his day, is one of the best allrounders in this format. He can be devastating with the bat and has been making steady inroads with the ball too. Anderson has had a forgetabble IPL season with Delhi Daredevils by scoring just 142 runs in 11 innings. 

New Zealand are always a welldrilled one-day team with a class player in Williamson leading the show. The skipper is never shy to take the lead with the bat and once he gets going, there can be no better batsman than him. Guptill, too, has been outstanding for a few years. They have an experienced campaigner in Ross Taylor who can guide the youngsters well. The seaming-friendly conditions in England will suit the Black Caps, and players like Tim Southee, Boult and Anderson etc who can swing the ball around corners, would be a shot-in-the-arm for the Kiwis in their quest to win the title.

SQUAD: Kane Williamson (captain), Corey Anderson, Trent Boult, Neil Broom, Colin de Grandhomme, Martin Guptill, Tom Latham, Mitchell McClenaghan, Adam Milne, Jimmy Neesham, Jeetan Patel, Luke Ronchi, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee and Ross Taylor

28 May – India v New Zealand, The Oval

30 May – New Zealand v Sri Lanka, Edgbaston 

June 2 v Australia, Edgbaston 

June 6 v England, Cardiff 

June 9 v Bangladesh, Cardiff