chocolate cake

Yeah, with the cricket I'd fail the Tebbit test, England for me.

msi geek

NZ lack that killer instinct to play the big moments well - hence, their pathetic record in the knockout stage.


10 Reasons - England will beat NZ in SF

1. Already played and won twice at the Kotla in this tournament - good feel of the pitch and the ground.
2. England has an excellent record against NZ in T20 format.
3. T20 is a batsman 's game - England has considerable Firepower and Several match winning batsmen - Roy, Hales, Root, Morgan, Buttler, Stokes, Ali, etc. - even the lower order batsmen are decent with the bat - NO tail enders at all. In contrast, the retirement of Brendon McCallum has considerably weakened the Kiwi batting - only one score above 150 and that too against the struggling Pakistani side.
4. Unlike other grounds, Kotla is a batsman's paradise and a bowler's worst nightmare (spin or pace)
5. Ability to chase big targets (against SA) and defend modest ones (against Afghanistan).
6. England has a better Strategic Think-tank - NZ players carry that villagers' attitude - wait for things to happen rather than make them happen.
7. NZ players undoubtedly lack the Big Match Temperament - no major tournament victory since 16 years and even worse before.
8. NZ is a Rugby nation, definitely not a cricket one.
9. Number of supporters for England in the ground number several thousand - as against NZ (maybe just a girl and her dog).
10. Most T20 Ex-Cricketers such as Kevin Pietersen, etc. have already predicted an easy win for England.

Tom H

McCullum retiring, really??? He's a swing and a miss player. You contrast him to a Warner or a Gayle or a Williamson and they go for the shots when they're there. You never see them try to smack yorkers like Brendon. I think Guptil is a better opener all round.

I wouldn't get too confident. It's a different NZ side that has surprised many, including me. Williamson has been a master in his selections. They'll give us a game for sure. We need to smack them for 200+ to be definite as that'll be too much for them. They've defended low totals very well against India in particular.

Charismatic

Both teams are well matched and it's T20, not real cricket, so results are often a coin flip.

One thing I can say with a degree of certainty is that when you look at a lot of the top performers of T20 world cricket it's clear IPL doesn't really attract the best players at their peak.

Tom H

7 wicket victory. All too easy in the end once we restricted the black caps to 64 from the last ten. Not forgetting Jason Roys fabulous smash.

Bring on the Windies or the Indians in the final. Never mind black caps, least you got further than the Aussies

Everywhere we go!!!!!!