History beckons for either England or New Zealand, with a new world champion set to be named on Sunday.
It seems fitting that the sport’s spiritual home, Lord’s, will provide the backdrop for the coronation of a new winner.
For England, the location provides an added incentive to reach the summit of the cricketing world for the first time in history. Not that Eoin Morgan’s men will need motivating ahead of what is the most important one-day match England has played in… well, three days.
On Thursday, the hosts demolished Australia in the semifinal at Edgbaston, Birmingham, to reach the final for the first time since 1992.
England had suffered a demoralizing defeat against the five-time winners earlier in the tournament, but banished those demons emphatically. The hosts vanquished Australia by eight wickets, bowling the defending champions out for 223 and then chasing the total down in just 32.1 overs.
Chris Woakes and Jofra Archer pulverized Australia’s top order with the new ball, ably supported by Adil Rashid. Any fears Mitchell Star could threaten England’s batsmen were swiftly put to bed as Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow bludgeoned their way to another 100-run partnership.
Following a mid-tournament slump with back-to-back defeats against Sri Lanka and Australia, England defeated New Zealand and India in must-win games to qualify for the semifinals before trouncing Australia.
The world number one team is finally justifying its status and arrives into the final as the clear favorite, but will be wary of the threat posed by New Zealand.
The Black Caps rode their luck to reach the semifinal, before pulling off the upset of the tournament so far in a pulsating match against India.
After setting a modest 239, New Zealand skittled India’s top order, reducing the 2011 winners to 24-4 and then 92-6. When MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja pulled India to the cusp of a remarkable comeback with a 116-run partnership, New Zealand held its nerve to clinch a memorable 18-run win.
Kane Williamson’s men will be the underdogs at Lord’s, a role that suits New Zealand and will put pressure firmly on England’s shoulders. At the same time, the Black Caps were in a similar situation four years ago and comprehensively lost to Australia in Sydney.
Here’s everything you need to know ahead of Sunday.
When and where is the game?
England takes on New Zealand at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London on Sunday, July 14, with play scheduled to start at 10:30 a.m. local time (5:30 a.m. ET).
TV channel and live stream
The game will be broadcast in the U.S. by Willow TV and Hotstar, with a live stream available via Sling TV.
The latter is one of the official partners of Willow TV and is available across various platforms such as Apple TV, iOS, Android TV, XBOX, Chrome TV, Fire TV and Roku.
Match odds
New Zealand pulled off a remarkable upset against India and the odds are again stacked against the Black Caps. According to Oddschecker, England is a 1/3 favorite ahead of Sunday, while New Zealand is a 5/2 outsider.
Picking the top run scorer, however, could be considerably trickier. Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root and Kane Williamson are all 11/2 favorites.
Roy and Bairstow have three centuries combined in this World Cup and their partnership was again crucial against Australia. Root and Williamson both have two centuries each, although each has passed 50 just once in the last four games.
Form
England looked down and out after losing to Australia last month but has rescued its World Cup campaign with wins over New Zealand, India and Australia to reach a first final in 27 years. The latter performance was the most impressive of the trio and spoke volumes for a side who, just over two weeks ago, looked to be crumbling under pressure.
New Zealand, on the other hand, limped into the semifinals after losing its last three games in the group stage but the win against India will have done the Black Caps a world of good.
When the two teams met at the beginning of the month, England cruised to a 119-run win after setting New Zealand a target of 306 to win.
