The biggest cricket carnival, the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, officially kicks start today, on the 5th of October with the opening match of the tournament scheduled between the England cricket team and the New Zealand cricket team.
The much awaited ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 finally takes place from today with the defending champions England in action against New Zealand. Both England and have a strong squad and looks favourite to make it to the semi-finals atleast.
The last time that these two teams faced off in the ODI World Cup was the the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 Final in England. Both the teams produced probably one of the best cricket match ever history of the sports.
Batting first, England scored 241 runs in their 50 overs. However, England also scored 241 runs in their 50 overs, thus the match ended in a tie. The match went to the super over to decide the champion, however, even super over too ended in a tie and in the end, England won the World Cup 2019 on count of boundary. In this article, we take a look at both the teams’ playing xi and where they are now.
Openers
For New Zealand, Martin Guptill and Henry Nicholls both opened the inning. Guptill is no more a member of the New Zealand and recently turned out for the Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) in the CPL. As for Henry Nicholls, while has not retired, he hasn’t featured much in cricket. For England, Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow opened inning. While Jason Roy was initially selected in the World Cup 2023 squad, he has been replaced. Jonny Bairstow meanwhile continues to be part of England’s World Cup 2023 squad.
Middle-Order
New Zealand’s middle-order contained captain Kane Williamson, Tom Latham and Ross Taylor. While the former 2 is still a part of the New Zealand team in the World Cup 2023, the latter has retired from the sport. Kind of same story for England. Their World Cup 2019 winning captain Eoin Morgan has retired while the other 2 middle-order batters Joe Root and Jos Buttler are still part of the England squad for the World Cup 2023 with Buttler as captain.
All-Rounders
James Neesham, Colin de Grandhomme and Mitchell Santner were the 3 all-rounders for New Zealand. Neesham and Santner are still part of their World Cup squad however, Colin de Grandhomme has not been included, instead playing in various T20 leagues around the world. For England, the two designated all-rounders were Ben Stokes and Chris Woakes and both the players will be playing World Cup 2023. Stokes came out of retirement to take part in the competition after having retired from ODI format.
Bowlers
New Zealand fielded 3 frontline seamers in the tournament in 2019, Trent Boult, Matt Henry and Lockie Ferguson. All 3 of the players will be taking part in the World Cup 2019 too. Meanwhile, England have made numerous changes in this department. Liam Plunkett and Jofra Archer won’t be taking part in the tournament. While Liam is not at all part of the team, Jofra Archer is with the team as a travelling reserve because of the player’s injury. Mark Wood and Adil Rashid, the other 2 bowlers, will be taking part for England in the World Cup 2023.
