A vibrant and energetic England’s cricket team will face New Zealand at the Edgbaston, Birmingham today. English team will be led by Captain Eoin Morgan who will miss the presence of pace duo James Anderson and Stuart Broad who are rested due to the upcoming Ashes series against Australia in the next month. Along with them Ian Bell, Moeen Ali and Gary Balance also will not be playing in this five one day series. In the absence of England’s vital team players, they have grabbed in Sam Billings, Mark Wood, Jason Roy and David Willey all filled in, with Liam Plunkett.

England vs New Zealand Cricket Series

The memories of devastated England’s team are reminiscent till today. The last time in the Cricket World Cup of 2015, Tim Southee gave the English batsmen chill down the spine with his excellent bowling performance (7 for 33). Also how New Zealand’s captain Brendon McCullum scored 77 runs out of 25 balls and finished the clinched the target of just 123 runs in mere 12.2 overs!

Both the teams are looking forward for this series as a white-wash by either of them will earn a hike in their ICC ODI teams ranking. If New Zealand wins this series 5-0 then they will topple India and secure the number two spot. On the other hand if England winsthe series 5-0 then they will get a hike to fifth rank by overthrowing Sri Lanka. Current ICC ranking shows that Australia tops the table with 129 points followed by India with 117 points.

Among the players ranking, New Zealand’s teammate Kane Williamson holds the seventhpositionin the ICC’s ODI rankings while England’s Joe Root holds the 16^th position as both the teams faces each other today. There in Bangladesh, as team India faces Bangladesh from (10 June) tomorrow will have a close watch on England v/s New Zealand because if New Zealand clinches the series 5-0 then they would topple India from second spot irrespective of the results in India v/s Bangladesh series.

The remaining ODI’s will of England v/s New Zealand will take place at:

9 June – 1^st ODI, Birmingham
12 June – 2^nd ODI, the Oval
14 June – 3^rd ODI, Southampton
17 June – 4^th ODI, Nottingham
20 June – 5^th ODI, Chester-le-Street

It will be interesting to watch as the experienced New Zealand team trying to conquer over the fresh talented team England today at Birmingham.

Tags: Birmingham, Black Caps, Edgbaston, England, Eoin Morgan, New Zealand, ODIs