England v New Zealand: No longer 'men against boys' for Eoin Morgan's side
- Published
ICC Champions Trophy 2017 |
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Venues: The Oval, Edgbaston, Cardiff Dates: 1-18 June |
Coverage: Highlights every evening on BBC Two, ball-by-ball Test Match Special commentary on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra; in-play highlights and text commentary on the BBC Sport website |
England captain Eoin Morgan says his side have the confidence to beat New Zealand in Cardiff on Tuesday and reach the Champions Trophy semi-finals.
England's last one-day international tournament meeting with the Black Caps ended in an eight-wicket defeat at the World Cup in February 2015.
Morgan says that heavy loss was like "men against boys", with New Zealand going on to reach the final.
"It's completely different now, two years down the line," said Morgan.
England recovered later that year to beat Brendon McCullum's tourists 3-2.
Another victory in Tuesday's match, which starts at 10:30 BST, would put them into the Champions Trophy last four, after New Zealand's game with Australia on Friday was abandoned because of rain.
"We've got a completely new team, pretty much," added Morgan.
"A lot of it has to do with confidence. We come into this tournament full of confidence.
"The dominant factor in New Zealand was that they had that confidence, whereas we didn't."
Morgan's side face Australia at Edgbaston on Saturday in their final Group A game.
'No hesitation' over Finn call-up
Steve Finn has replaced injured all-rounder Chris Woakes in the squad and Morgan says the Middlesex seamer was an automatic choice.
"It was backing up consistency in selection and trying to get guys together as a group that we've showed trust in over the last couple of years," he said.
"We've tried to go like-for-like as often as we can. But when we can't, we go for a guy we can throw the ball to at any stage in order to try to make an impact in the game.
"Finny is one of those guys, and I'd have no hesitation in playing him if we felt it was the right thing to do."
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