ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 – New Zealand vs Sri Lanka Preview & Prediction
THE FACTS
When is New Zealand vs Sri Lanka taking place? Saturday 1st June – 10:30 (UK)
Where is New Zealand vs Sri Lanka taking place? Sophia Gardens, Cardiff
What is the expected weather for New Zealand vs Sri Lanka? 22-24c with sunshine and cloudy intervals but no rain expected
What television channel is New Zealand vs Sri Lanka on in the UK? Sky Sports Cricket
Where can I stream New Zealand vs Sri Lanka? Sky Sports subscribers can stream the match live on Sky Go
Where can I get tickets for New Zealand vs Sri Lanka? https://seatpick.com/2019-icc-cricket-world-cup-new-zealand-v-sri-lanka-tickets/event/70493?aff=zone
HEAD-TO-HEAD
Last meeting: New Zealand beat Sri Lanka by 115 runs
THE TEAM NEWS
NEW ZEALAND
Coach: Gary Stead
Captain: Kane Williamson
- New Zealand come into this opening World Cup match having been the most inactive of any of the teams in the World Cup over the last 18 months in this format of the game but their last ODI series was against their opponents here earlier this year in which they comfortably beat Sri Lanka.
- They played one warm-up match in which West Indies smashed them to all parts of Trent Bridge by hitting their bowlers for 421 and while Sri Lanka do not possess anywhere near the same firepower as the Windies, the Blackcaps know they have to bowl much better as the real competition begins now.
- They are likely to start the tournament with Guptill and Munro opening the batting but after only managing one opening partnership of more than 45 in their last 11 ODIs, they are under some pressure to improve as they continue to over-rely on middle order stars Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor.
SRI LANKA
Coach: Chandika Hathurusinghe
Captain: Dimuth Karunaratne
- Sri Lanka enter the World Cup with low expectations having the worst win ratio of any participating teams over the last 18 months in the 50-over format of the game but they will be desperate to show that they can compete against the world’s best.
- They are led by skipper Dimuth Karunaratne who is relatively inexperienced in ODI cricket himself having only managed to two fifties so far and the batting especially remains extremely fragile and does not inspire confidence.
- The bowling attack relies heavily on veterans Lakmal, Pradeep and Malinga to take wickets but they are not the most inspiring and they will have to be at their best and much-improved from their recent series in New Zealand where the Blackcaps thoroughly dominated them.
THE PREDICTION
Sri Lanka’s team does not inspire a great deal of confidence and they will have to be at their very best to compete with New Zealand. The Blackcaps completely dominated their ODI series against them earlier this year and they will be confident of picking up another win here. Their general inactivity could be an issue and Sri Lanka’s best hopes will be in catching them cold in this opening match but it is hard to see many ways in which Sri Lanka can get the better of them and a win for Kane Williamson’s men is on the cards.
