Two years down the line, we're a new team: Morgan

When England and New Zealand last met in an ICC event, Tim Southee blew Eoin Morgan’s men away with 7 for 33, before Brendon McCullum broke the little that was remaining of their spirit with 77 off 25 as New Zealand won in 12.2 overs.

From that February day in 2015 to June 2017, the transformation of England’s white-ball side is complete. It would have been unthinkable then to think of England as a favourite in any limited-overs tournament, but that’s exactly the aura it has radiated in the Champions Trophy 2017. And on Tuesday, it will come face to face with New Zealand once again. This time, nobody will be counting on a repeat though.

“It was sort of men against boys,” said Morgan on Monday of the 2015 match. “But I think it's completely different now, two years down the line. We've got a completely new team, pretty much. And hopefully moving forward.

“I think a lot of it has to do with confidence. You only build confidence by producing performances and winning games at cricket. I think the combination of that and playing more games as a team and as individuals makes you more experienced as a side. So we come into this tournament full of confidence and knowing that the conditions we're playing, going to play in, we've played in before and have had success before. I think the dominant factor in New Zealand was that they had that confidence at the time and the confidence within the group, whereas we didn't have it.”

But while England has moved away from its 2015 template, it has gotten closer to the style of play New Zealand had adopted that year, a fact Morgan acknowledged.

“If you look at the top four teams that got to the semifinal stage in the World Cup, all seemed to score regular totals of over 350 or 350 itself,” he pointed out. “So I think they've contributed to it as a whole. I think the way New Zealand went about playing their cricket was probably closer to the way we go about it. We have very similar characteristics and values as a side and it's probably the easiest to relate to out of those four teams that made the latter stages.”

The major selection dilemma ahead of Morgan is choosing a replacement for the injured Chris Woakes, though Jason Roy’s form and Ben Stokes’s continuously monitored fitness will also be front and centre of his mind.

As to Woakes’s replacement, Morgan said the call would be taken exclusively keeping New Zealand’s personnel in mind, but indicated it would be difficult for Steven Finn to get selected – having come in as a replacementwith members of the original squad still there – which leaves David Willey as the logical choice.

“I think the match-up against New Zealand will affect the team that we select,” he said. “And I think if the wicket is as fair as we hope it's going to be, we'll go on the match-up against New Zealand as opposed to conditions. Conditions should be set fair, hopefully.

“Jason has obviously lacked runs lately, but certainly we feel everybody on the team, the squad, back room staff, feel that a score for Jason is around the corner. So hopefully it is tomorrow. Every game presents a huge opportunity. I think different to playing in a series where one team might have the wood over you, you actually come up against different oppositions that have different sides of things. Certainly again tomorrow presents an opportunity within that to go out and score some runs.”

On Stokes, Morgan said the all-rounder was “very close” to being able to bowl 10 overs in a match again. “He came through it again the other day, bowling more overs than we intended bowling him or having to bowl him. But I think we're nearly there. He's had no pain in five days now. So if that continues throughout tomorrow, there's a chance he could bowl 10 overs.”