The Black Caps are ready to score big to win a place in the Twenty20 World Cup final.
New Zealand will meet England in the first semifinal in Abu Dhabi on Thursday morning (3am NZ time) after contesting – as expected – mostly low-scoring games in group play.
But coach Gary Stead said they’re prepared to succeed in a high-scoring match if required at a venue which has been the most conducive for the batters.
“We haven’t really had to have a big chase – when we’ve chased targets they’ve been 110 and 120,” Stead said.
“It’s always a little bit difficult to know for sure how you’ll be put when you’re placed under a 160-180 type target. But we believe we’ve got the players and the group to do it – we’ve adapted well.”
New Zealand’s top score at the tournament to date has been 172-5 batting first against minnows Scotland, while England’s best was 179-8 in their loss chasing South Africa’s total after already having secured a semifinal place.
NZ’s semifinal foes also made 163-4 batting first against Sri Lanka and had easy run-chases in wins over Australia, West Indies and Bangladesh.
Stead feels the Abu Dhabi wickets offer the best opportunities for the batters to flourish. The highest scores at the tournament have chiefly come there – India’s 210-2 v Afghanistan, Sri Lanka’s 189-3 v the Windies and Pakistan’s 189-2 v Namibia were all achieved batting first in day-night games there.
“It’s probably got the most pace – but different sides of the block offer different things as well.”
When England beat Bangladesh in their only game to date at the tournament in Abu Dhabi, they restricted their opponents to 124-9 batting first, getting success with seam and spin, as offspinner Moeen Ali took two early wickets.
In reply, Jason Roy led the way with a rapid 61 off 38 balls, but the opener won’t play against NZ after a calf injury ruled him out of the tournament, with James Vince his replacement in the squad.
Stead said his squad was all fit for the semi, although skipper Kane Williamson has been very limited in training throughout with a long-term elbow problem.
“Kane probably hasn’t trained as much as he’d like, but that’s just about making sure the time when he is batting, hopefully it’s in the middle for us and winning games of cricket.”
Stead said despite four consecutive wins for his side, he wasn’t a big believer in momentum.
“But what we do take in is some confidence from how we’ve played, and developed trust over time with what our gameplan is and the way we want to execute it.”
He’s expecting Jonny Bairstow to move up the batting order to replace Roy.
“They’ve also, from watching them, toyed with the idea of floating different players at different times – maybe they believe they’ve got match-ups they want to do against us.
“I don’t think that’ll change the way that we approach the game.”
He also expects his bowlers to be attacked far more than they have been of late by Scotland, Namibia and Afghanistan.
“I think they will – but that also brings opportunity with it as well,” Stead said.
“If they don’t get it quite right, it perhaps brings our bowlers into the game.
“We know that England have a lot of power, they’ve been the dominant white-ball side in world cricket for the last two or three years. They’ve got a group of players who have been pretty secure in their positions and know what they’re trying to do.
“It’s a one-off game for us, we’ll go in with a lot of confidence and hopefully fire some shots at England that they may not expect.”
AT A GLANCE:
Twenty20 World Cup
Semifinal one: England v New Zealand, Abu Dhabi, Thursday 3am NZ time.
Likely XIs – New Zealand: Martin Guptill, Daryl Mitchell, Kane Williamson, Devon Conway, Glenn Phillips, Jimmy Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Adam Milne, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi, Trent Boult. England: Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Liam Livingstone, Eoin Morgan, Moeen Ali, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood.
TAB odds: England $1.56 NZ $2.30.
Semifinal two: Pakistan v Australia, Dubai, Friday 3am NZ time.
TAB odds: Pakistan $1.78 Australia $1.95.
