Charged-up England are all set to take on upbeat New Zealand in the fourth ODI of the five-match series at Trent Bridge, Nottingham on Wednesday. The Black Caps would look to seal the series by winning the fourth ODI while England would look to win the match to keep the possibility of winning the series alive.
England have managed to go past the 300-run mark in all the three ODIs they have played against the Kiwis. This England side is relatively young as the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) had decided to rest their big guns such as Moeen Ali, Ian Bell, James Anderson and Stuart Broad ahead of the ODI series.
The way the English side has played in this series, it has definitely surprised all. Especially skipper Eoin Morgan, who has been leading from the front. Morgan has already played three brilliant knocks in this series but two out of those three ended did not help his team win. On Tuesday, Morgan promised in an interview that his side would continue to play an attacking brand of cricket, like they have done in the first three ODIs.
Meanwhile, the Black Caps have bounced back pretty strongly after their 210-run crushing defeat in the first ODI. They were lucky to manage a narrow win over England in the rain-affected second ODI. Had the rain gods not spoiled the party, England would have won the match. But it was not to be that way and England lost a close match.
In the third ODI, England yet again posted a score of 302 runs. The Kiwi bowlers were right on the money in the later half, managing to pick up the English wickets in quick succession. England lost all their wickets within 46 overs. Morgan said he was happy with the score on board but added they should have played out all the 50 overs to put more runs on the board.
The skipper of the Black Caps Brendon McCullum has not had a good series with the bat so far. He would therefore be raring to go and score runs to add to his team's effort. Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor have been two of the best Kiwi batsmen in this ODI series. Williamson and Taylor won the third ODI for their side by scoring a century each. Taylor has now two back-to-back centuries and both have come in winning causes. Taylor has had a wonderful series so far.
England's concern will be these two Kiwi batsmen and if they want to take control of Wednesday's match, they will have to send these two batsmen back to the pavilion at the earliest.
The wickets in this series so far have all been batting paradises and Trent Bridge would be no different. England have a record of winning half of the matches played at this venue and would like to improve upon it by defeating the Kiwis today. Both the sides are likely to go into this fourth ODI with unchanged sides as there are no signs of injuries.
Expected Lineups:
England: Alex Hales, Jason Roy, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan (C), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (wk), Sam Billings, Adil Rashid, David Willey, Mark Wood, Steven Finn.
New Zealand: Brendon McCullum (C), Martin Guptill, Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Grant Elliott, Mitchell Santner, Luke Ronchi (wk), Ben Wheeler, Tim Southee, Matt Henry, Mitchell McClenaghan.
Where to Watch Live
England vs New Zealand 4th ODI is scheduled to start at 2 pm BST (6.30 pm IST, 9:00 am ET, 1:00 am NZ time) with live coverage in India on Star Sports 2 and Stars Sports HD2. The match can also be watched via live streaming online on Starsports.com.
Viewers in the UK can flip over to Sky Sport2 to watch England vs New Zealand Live, while the live stream options are on Sky Go and Watch Sky Sports.
Audience in the US can catch the match live on ESPN3 and Watch ESPN, while viewers in New Zealand can do so on Sky Sport and Sky Go NZ.
