CARDIFF, United Kingdom: England will face familiar foes when they bid to book their place in the Champions Trophy semi-finals against New Zealand in Cardiff today.
Earlier this year, England won a limited overs series in New Zealand only for the Black Caps to turn the tables in England shortly before the Champions Trophy, a tournament for the world’s top eight one-day sides, got underway.
England must beat New Zealand to seal a last four spot. If they lose they are out and either Australia or Sri Lanka will go through from Group A after their match tomorrow.
If the England-New Zealand match is a washout the hosts will need a low scoring Australia victory to go through. If both matches are washed out, England will qualify behind New Zealand.
“We played a series against them in New Zealand which we won 2-1, we lost the one here 2-1, so it’s the decider, I suppose, and it is a ‘quarter-final’,” Giles said in Cardiff yesterday.
“If you’re going to go on and do well in world tournaments, these are the sort of games you’ve got to win. We know the Kiwis are a gritty side, well-organised, well-led, but so are we,” Giles, a former England left-arm spinner added.
England, without injured star batsman Kevin Pietersen, have been accused of scoring their runs too slowly. Jonathan Trott, whom England expect to be fit for today’s match against the Black Caps in Cardiff following a quad injury, has found himself in the firing line even though he has scored over 2,500 runs at an impressive average of 52.56 for England in the 50-over format.
“I don’t think it’s rocket science,” said Giles.
“Fifty overs is a long time. You want to set the innings up and give yourselves a platform to build from later on.
“It was disappointing to lose the game the other day to Sri Lanka, but it took an incredibly good innings from one of the best players in the world to do that,” he added. REUTERS
