England & New Zealand have both finished their final preparations at The Riverside before tomorrow’s crunch ICC Cricket World Cup showdown in the North East.
Victory for the home nation will secure a last four spot, while defeat leaves England in the perilous position of needing Bangladesh to beat Pakistan on Friday at Lord’s.
New Zealand, meanwhile, are all but assured of a place in the knockout stages – only a defeat and a mammoth net run rate swing to Pakistan would deny them a place in the semi-finals.
England will be to build on a strong performance against India, winning by 31 runs. 111 from Jonny Bairstow coupled with a fine knock of 79 from Durham’s Ben Stokes set the platform for a big victory.
“It’s probably the most important game England have had for some time”@DurhamCricket chairman & @englandcricket legend @BeefyBotham has a good luck message for the England boys ahead of #ENGvNZ! ?#CWC19 pic.twitter.com/Tv3SVy34Kl
— Emirates Riverside (@RiversideDurham) July 2, 2019
Stokes and Mark Wood are both available for selection for England on their home ground. Stokes is averaging 61.66 in eight innings so far with Wood the second highest England wicket taker on 13.
New Zealand come into the game on the back of their worst performance of the group stages – a 86 run defeat at the hands of table topping Australia.
Former Durham batsman Tom Latham could feature for New Zealand – but in 7 appearances today he’s failed to showcase his talents to their fullest extent.
Spectator information
The match is a sell out & there are no tickets available. Please do not come to the ground without a valid ticket.
Car parking is also completely sold out & there are no sales on the day. Please visit the Travel & Transport page for details of a Park & Ride service as well as shuttle buses running from Durham station.