Williamson Latham and Buttler walk out for the toss. NZ win the toss and opt to bowl first. They pick both Chapman and Ravindra.
New Zealand: 1 Devon Conway, 2 Will Young, 3 Rachin Ravindra, 4 Daryl Mitchell, 5 Tom Latham (capt/wk), 6 Glenn Phillips, 7 Mark Chapman, 8 James Neesham, 9 Mitchell Santner, 10 Matt Henry, 11 Trent Boult
England: 1 Jonny Bairstow, 2 Dawid Malan, 3 Joe Root, 4 Harry Brook, 5 Jos Buttler (capt/wk), 6 Liam Livingstone, 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Sam Curran, 9 Chris Woakes, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Mark Wood
Latham: Looks a reasonably good surface and hopefully we give us a chance with the bat later on. Guys have been in different parts of the world and got together here a week ago. Any competition you play in the lead-up to the World Cup is important. Kane is not quite ready yet and is progressing nicely. Ferguson has a bit of a niggle and misses out along with Sodhi, Kane and Tim Southee.
Buttler: We would have looked to bowl first. We had a good series against New Zealand and everyone seems to be a in really good place. Ben is going to miss this game. He has a niggle. The guys missing out: Atkinson, Topley, Willey and Stokes.
Snehil: “The analogy with the 1996 world cup gets even better. The second semi took place in Kolkata, same as in this edition.”
Matt Roller: Still very empty here. The whisper is that England likely to go with both Moeen and Curran, and leave Topley out… We’ll find out for sure soon enough
Varun: “Beyond excited for this world cup. And in a sense, it’s a true test of the format and for the indian fans. I’ve no doubt they’ll turn in up in herds for the india games, but for the other games? I sure hope so! “
Anubhab Mukherj: “Under captains Morgan and Buttler, England have won both white ball world cups in 3 years and significantly improved their position on the ultimate table with three trophies now. Let’s hope they keep pushing and go back-to-back, just like Root said.”
Ankur: “Please don’t kill ODIs after this WC. Rejuvenate it. Remove the bilateral series altogether. Schedule 3-teams 4-teams tournament. An ideal mix can be one of top 3, one of 4 to 6, one team from 7-10 and an associate. Have one tournament every 3 or for months with a marquee 5-team tournament featuring 2 or 3 top teams. Keep the ODIs alive.”
Paritosh Mandov: “Lets hope the rains were limited to warmup matches only ! Can’t wait for the action to begin !!”