A battle of supremacy between the two neighbours. Australia has already booked their seats for the semi-final, New Zealand has to, by winning one match from the remaining two in the competition.
New Zealand started their World Cup campaign with three consecutive thumping wins against Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. Their fourth match against India washed out, but then they again won their next contest against South Africa. All looked good till that time, and everyone assumed New Zealand would quickly get into the semis. However, their loss against Pakistan and Sri Lanka’s win against England changed all the scenarios, and now Kiwis have to win one of the two matches to qualify.
The Kiwi openers have failed terribly in the last few games, adding extra pressure on the middle order, especially on Kane Williamson as the other experienced middle-order batsman, Ross is also not playing well in the tournament. They need to pull up their socks and deliver them now when it matters the most. Their bowling and fielding are not much of concern as they have produced some excellent results in every match they played so far.
Australia has already qualified for the semis, and they can give a chance to the players who are sitting on the bench in this game. Still, they would want to win the match and keep themselves at the top position in the points table. The openers have given them the flying starts on numerous occasions, and they are their best bet in the tournament so far. With Starc and Cummins in top form, Australia must be the favorite to win the match against the Kiwis.
Players to watch out
David Warner has most runs (500) in the tournament, and he must be eyeing to break Tendulkar’s record of most runs (673) in a single World Cup competition. He has a minimum of 3 games left to reach the target, and it should be not a hard task for him to achieve it in less than two games.
Martin Guptill has an awful World Cup so far, and he is undoubtedly looking to compensate for his failures. He would love to contribute at the top in giving the team a flying start. He can take away the game quickly from the opposition with this brisk rate of scoring the runs.`
Australia v New Zealand in ODIs:
Overall: Matches 136, Australia Won 90, New Zealand Won 39, No Result 7
World Cup: Matches 10, Australia Won 7, New Zealand Won 3
Recent Form (most recent first): Australia W W W W L, New Zealand L W W NR W
ICC Rankings: Australia (4), New Zealand (3)
Upcoming Records:
Martin Guptill has scored 947 runs in World Cup and needs 53 more to become the second New Zealand player to reach the 1,000 runs milestone.
Pat Cummins has taken 93 wickets and needs seven more to become the seventeenth Australian player to reach the 100 ODI wickets milestone.
Squads:
Australia: Aaron Finch (capt), Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey (wk), Nathan Coulter-Nile, Pat Cummins, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa.
