England captain Eoin Morgan knows New Zealand have the ability to defend small totals and says the hosts will need to replicate their near-perfect game against Australia to prevail in Sunday’s Cricket World Cup final.
Morgan’s men dished out a ruthless performance against arch-rivals Australia, bowling out the five-times champions for 223 and romping home with nearly 18 overs to spare in a lop-sided semifinal at Edgbaston.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. Asked if they would need to maintain a similar standard against the 2015 finalists, Morgan said: “I think we will need to, yeah.
“New Zealand are an extremely tough side, with a lot of experience, a lot of skill. They were the best side in the group stage and they improved, very similar to us, from the group stage to the semifinal performance.
“We are striving to improve on our performance. No doubt they (also) will.”
New Zealand are one of the two sides, along with Afghanistan, who have not posted a 300-plus total in the tournament, but successfully defended a modest 239 against India in the first semi-final.
Morgan does not expect Sunday’s final to be a high-scoring contest and feels the likes of Trent Boult and Matt Henry could prove quite a handful for his batsmen.
“Throughout the tournament the scores have been a lot lower than they have previously here in the last three or four years. Us adjusting to that has been harder work than it normally is,” Morgan said.
“New Zealand have done it brilliantly and Lord’s isn’t ever a high-scoring ground. I’d say tomorrow isn’t going to be a high-scoring ground, so it will be a bit of a battle.”
With Sunday’s match available on free-to-air television in England, Morgan acknowledged the importance of winning England’s maiden men’s 50-overs World Cup title though his focus remains on the final only.
“I haven’t allowed myself to think about lifting the trophy,” said the left-handed batsman.
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