England might have cruised to victory over Bangladesh in their opening match of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017, but they will think long and hard over their bowling lineup as the hosts look to stop New Zealand from picking up their first win of the tournament.
The strength in the batting proved to be the difference for England against Bangladesh, with their batsmen turning a chase of over 300 into a Sunday morning stroll.
However, their bowling left a lot to be desired, with the likes of Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim scoring a little too easily.
As Australia showed in their game against Bangladesh on Monday, if you have variety in attack, you will cause problems. And that should be England's plan too.
Eoin Morgan decided to leave Adil Rashid out of the playing XI in the first match for an extra fast bowler and the result was the attack looking the same throughout.
In order to bring a bit more potency to the bowling lineup, especially during the middle overs, Rashid could be brought in, unless the short boundaries straight leads to England going with all-out pace again, with only Moeen Ali being the spin option.
England will definitely make one change from the game against Bangladesh, with Chris Woakes, who could only bowl two overs in the first match, ruled out of the ICC Champions Trophy with a side strain.
Steven Finn is Woakes' replacement in the squad, and the fast bowler might come into the playing XI for Jake Ball, after the latter went for plenty against Bangladesh. For that final spot, it will be a battle between Ball, David Willey and Rashid.
The rest of the lineup should be the same – Ben Stokes is recovering quite well from the knee problem sustained before the start of the tournament, with Morgan hoping the all-rounder can bowl all ten overs with the ball – with a lot at stake in this game, because a win for England and they will be in the semifinals of the Champions Trophy 2017.
New Zealand cannot confirm their place yet, after they were denied two points against Australia by rain. However, they can put themselves in a seriously strong position – their final game will be against Bangladesh – by beating England in Cardiff.
Considering how well the Kiwis played against their Trans-Tasman rivals in their first match of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017, they could go in with the same playing XI.
However, New Zealand did struggle with the bat in the final overs, and just to give them that extra edge in the final overs, they might consider bringing in Colin de Grandhomme for Neil Broom.
Confirmed playing XI:
England: Alex Hales, Jason Roy, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan (C), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Jake Ball, Mark Wood.
New Zealand: Martin Guptill, Luke Ronchi, Kane Williamson (C), Ross Taylor, Neil Broom, Corey Anderson, James Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Adam Milne, Trent Boult.
