England will continue their tough start to this spring’s ICC Cricket World Cup, facing co-hosts New Zealand in Wellington. 

England, who suffered defeat at the hands of Australia at the weekend, will be aiming to prove their credentials against one of the form teams in the competition, and Nottinghamshire Director of Cricket & England Selector Mick Newell says Eoin Morgan’s side will embrace the challenge.

“New Zealand and Australia will be right up in the top three teams at this world cup,” he said. 

“This is a chance for England to lay down a bit of a marker, to say that we are competitive and can compete with these teams so it’s a huge game and they’ll be looking forward to that challenge.”

New Zealand, so often touted as ‘dark horses’ in tournaments like this, proved their worth in beating Sri Lanka convincingly in the ICC Cricket World Cup’s opening fixture.

“If you look over the last six to nine months at what they have achieved in all forms of the game it’s clear to see that this is an emerging team with a settled squad and a lot of experience,” said Newell.

“There’s more experience in that side than in England’s, and it looks like they’re hitting their peak at just the right time.”

Despite being overpowered by Australia, England can take heart from the form of Notts Outlaws captain James Taylor, who scored 98 on his Cricket World Cup debut, before an umpiring error handed the hosts victory early.

With a week to prepare for this match, the England players will have worked to iron out the creases in their game and push their hosts at the Cake Tin.

“They’ll look at their tactics from the last match and see what they can work on against New Zealand,” said Newell.

“It’s fairly common knowledge that England aren’t happy with the way they’re bowling at the death, they’ll need to be better in that area.

“They’ll be looking at ways to exploit the new Zealand batting, given that they had a low-scoring match against Scotland and the chances will be there.

“They just need to make sure that they up their game in this match from the first fixture.”

 

Trent Bridge hosts the fourth Royal London One-Day International between England and New Zealand on Wednesday 17 June. Don't miss the chance to take in what promises to be an absorbing contest and secure your seat now.