New Zealand after a great show in the World Cup lived up to their reputation of playing a new brand of cricket, when they put the England team in a spot of bother with aggressive cricket. They were even successful in leveling the 2 match Test series after losing the first one.
However, all has not been rosy for the McCullum led side as they slipped to an embarrassing defeat in the first ODI at Edgbaston. England rolled over NZ with a 210 run victory and will be quietly confident that they can repeat their performance in the second game.
Match Details
The second ODI between the two teams will be played at the historic venue, the Oval. It will start at 1 pm local time on Friday, the 12th of June. The pitch at the Oval in London is traditionally sportive and will give both teams equal chances to take something form the game.
The weather for the game is warm and good for cricket, though scattered thunderstorms are expected. This may mean a slight delay in proceedings mainly later in the evening.
Preview
The hosts could not have had a better start to the ODI series, after they were run close in both tests by the New Zealand team. They scored over 400 runs after being put into bat by McCullum. Two of their batsmen scored centuries at far better than run a ball and was handy with the bat and also the ball.
This makes the victory almost the perfect one for England and they will not want to chance much going into the second ODI. It was also the perfect way to respond after the World Cup debacle in Australia.
Now the question will be if England can repeat their performance in the second game. Though no one expects them to score 400+ runs every game, they will be expected to at least post respectable totals every time and win games more often than not.
New Zealand on the other hand will want to prove that the defeat was just a blip. Their team didn’t change much from the World Cup squad, though Southee was rested. Vettori is no longer available and the bowlers who replaced Southee and Vettori had a tough time as England were at their best at Edgbaston.
But they were at 160/3 in quick time in their chase before losing their last 7 wickets for just 38 runs. But they need not panic as the pressure of the huge target can make things like that happen to a team.
Predicted Line-up’s
England
Eoin Morgan (Captain), Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Steven Finn, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Liam Plunkett, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, James Taylor.
New Zealand
Brendon McCullum (Captain), Trent Boult, Grant Elliott, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Nathan McCullum, Luke Ronchi, Mitchell Santner, Ross Taylor, Kane Williamson, Tim Southee.
Though England ran away with the first game, it will not be easy to score that big on every occasion and they will have to play sensibly to get a chance to run away with the victory once again.
NZ will want to improve on their performance, but with home support at the Oval in the capital, England surely have the edge going into the match with a series lead. Both teams have a point to prove in the second match that promises to be exciting. England will want to continue their dominance at home while NZ have a point to prove after an embarrassing defeat in the first test.
With two well balanced sides fighting for a victory, this match and the rest of the series will be closely fought and will make a great viewing for cricket fans all around the world.
Predictions
With the exceptional performance in the first ODI, England are back in the series and they will be favorites in the second One-Day match tomorrow. As per Sports Mirchi predictions they have 55 percent chances to win.
