England v New Zealand, T20 World Cup 2016, 1st Semi-Final at Delhi, Preview: All-conquering Black Caps on verge of history

England have won while batting first as well as chasing, something New Zealand are yet to do in this tournament © Getty Images

A resurgent England will take on the undefeated New Zealand in the first semi-final of ICC T20 World Cup 2016 at Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi on Wednesday. After 32 matches, the tournament has finally wound down to the semi-final stage. The final four teams are England, New Zealand, West Indies, and India. The Black Caps have been undefeated in this tournament so far, having started their campaign with a morale-boosting victory against fellow semi-finalists India. Since then they have gone past Australia, Pakistan, and Bangladesh with equal efficiency. Live Cricket Scorecard: England v New Zealand, T20 World Cup 2016, 1st Semi-Final at Delhi

After being restricted to just 126 against India on a turning Nagpur track, New Zealand unleashed the spin trio of Nathan McCullum, Mitchell Santner, and Ish Sodhi to bundle India out for a shocking 79 and win by a massive 47 runs. New Zealand’s next match was against Australia. Again they batted first and amassed a paltry total of 142 before tying Australia down with some terrific bowling to sneak past by 8 runs. READ: T20 World Cup 2016, New Zealand and England’s journey to semi-finals
Pakistan were dispatched by 22 runs in the next match after they put up a total of 180. New Zealand were in a bit of trouble against Bangladesh in their last match, getting restricted to 145, but their bowlers cleaned out the opposition for a mere 70. Interestingly, New Zealand are yet to chase in the tournament; something England might look to exploit.
England, on the other hand, have had a mixed campaign. They were beaten by West Indies courtesy of a Chris Gayle century, and their bowlers were punished for 229 runs in the next match against South Africa. Incredibly, Joe Root and Jason Roy managed to help England chase down the total to stay in contention.
However, their batting took a major hit in the next match against Afghanistan, where they were 85 for 7 at one stage before Moeen Ali and David Willey took them to a respectable 142. The bowlers then managed to restrict Afghanistan and England won by 15 runs. After that, they came up against Sri Lanka and just about managed to pull off a win as Angelo Mathews nearly took the chase away from them.
Though both sides have managed to reach the semi-final stage, neither have been absolutely dominant. England have won while batting first as well as chasing, something New Zealand are yet to do in this tournament. Roy, Root, Moeen, and Jos Buttler have been good with the bat for England, while Chris Jordan, Willey, Moeen, Ben Stokes, and Adil Rashid have done well with the ball. For New Zealand it has been mainly Martin Guptill who has scored the runs, backed up by Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor. Santner, Sodhi, and Mitchell McClenaghan have done well with the ball for the Black Caps.
The match is being played at Delhi, which has so far been a low-scoring ground on which spin has thrived. With that in mind, England may consider bringing in the uncapped all-rounder Liam Dawson as an extra spinning option. That is the only likely change to the side, with the rest being a fairly well-settled line-up. England bat incredibly deep — Willey, who usually bats at No. 10 for them, has a T20 century while opening batting — and they will possibly need to call on those deep reserves if the top order fumbles.
New Zealand may consider keeping McCullum, who played ahead of Adam Milne in their last match. Incredibly, Tim Southee and Trent Boult — their most experienced pacers — have had a small role to play in their qualification for the semi-final. However, given the scale of the match Williamson may be tempted to bring them back as well. Henry Nicholls, who was tried against Bangladesh, will in all probability sit out in favour of the returning Guptill.
The match could go either way. It is tough to call one team favourites over the other, but given that New Zealand have been unbeaten so far the odds are on their side. That said, England have momentum as well and have been playing a positive brand of cricket. If the Black Caps win, they will have reached their first T20 World Cup final. If England win, the tournament will see one team lift the trophy for a record second time. A low-scoring thriller could be expected at Delhi.
Squads:
England: Eoin Morgan (c), Sam Billings, Liam Dawson, Alex Hales, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, Reece Topley, David Willey, Moeen Ali, Jos Buttler (wk), Chris Jordan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, James Vince, Liam Plunkett.
New Zealand: Kane Williamson (c), Luke Ronchi (wk), Martin Guptill, Trent Boult, Nathan McCullum, Colin Munro, Ish Sodhi, Ross Taylor, Corey Anderson, Grant Elliott, Mitchell McClenaghan, Adam Milne, Henry N.icholls, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee.
Time: 19:30 IST | 14:00 GMT.Source:cricketcountry