England will win World Cup final: Pundits pick four reasons to believe

Worried that England might slip up in the World Cup final? Never fear.

We checked in with our pundits ahead of the showdown with New Zealand and thankfully they came up with plenty of reasons why they think Eoin Morgan’s side have every chance of toppling the Black Caps on Sunday.

But let’s start with some basic, reassuring facts. England are top of the pile in the ICC World rankings, they’ve won SEVEN of their last nine meetings between the sides and when they last played the Black Caps they thumped them by 119 runs. And that’s just for starters…

BEST IN THE BUSINESS

Andrew Strauss: England have got the best opening batsmen in world cricket. It’s not just about the runs that Jason Roy (426 runs at 71) and Jonny Bairstow (496 at 49.60) score, it’s also the manner that they score them in. They are dynamic from the start and that puts opposition bowlers under pressure right from ball one. When the sides met in the group stage, New Zealand banked on Trent Boult dismissing one of our openers early, but when he wasn’t able to do so the Black Caps had nothing left to come back at England with.

• FACT: England have hit more sixes (74) in this World Cup than in the previous five put together

FORM THE NORM

Nasser Hussain: I can’t think of an England player who is not in good form and doesn’t go to Lord’s thinking ‘I am playing well’. Some may not be in as good nick as Jason Roy, but overall England have more players in form than New Zealand, who have four or five struggling. Players like Martin Guptill, Henry Nicholls and Tom Latham have not been at their best in the tournament and now there is not a lot of time to sort it out. England also have a little bit more depth to their bowling attack too.

• FACT: England have three of the five players in ODI history who have scored 1,000 ODI runs at an average of >40 and a strike rate of >100 – Roy, Bairstow and Buttler

ARCHER ON TARGET

Rob Key: Of all the England players that have ever played ODI cricket, Jofra Archer has looked the most accomplished by an absolute country mile; he is probably the best bowler England have ever had in ODI cricket. His sense of occasion impresses me: the bigger the game the better he bowls. Your bowlers set the tone, no-one else. He gets better every time he bowls and there is still a hell of a lot more to come from him. Overall, I think England are better man-for-man than New Zealand with the exception of Kane Williamson.

• FACT: England have only lost four of their last 28 home ODIs

BALANCE THE KEY

Ian Ward: England can go all the way because they have every base covered. They have the ability to do damage with in the first 10 overs of the game or the first 10 overs of the second innings with either bat or ball. They have great depth in batting and they have great variety in bowling – if it spins, they have two spinners to turn to, if it is a seaming pitch, they have got the extra seamer. They are the best-balanced all-round team in the World Cup, and in Eoin Morgan have an inspirational leader.

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Watch the Cricket World Cup final between New Zealand and England at Lord’s from 9am, Sunday on Sky Sports Cricket World Cup.

(c) Sky News 2019: England will win World Cup final: Pundits pick four reasons to believe