By IANS,
Gros Islet (St Lucia): High on confidence after their victory against defending champions Pakistan, New Zealand will face in-form England in their last Group E Super Eight match for a place in the semi-finals of the World Twenty20 here Monday.
England tops the group with two wins from two matches and even a loss should not hurt them as they are way ahead of the other three teams on net-run rate. New Zealand, however, need to beat England and stay ahead of South Africa in run rate, if the Proteas manage to beat Pakistan in the first match of the day at the Beausejour Cricket Ground.
It has been an emphatic performance from England as they came up with two convincing wins against Pakistan and South Africa in the Super Eight. But Kevin Pietersen, who scored back-to-back half centuries, will miss the match. Pietersen has returned home to be at the birth of his first child. Ravi Bopara will be replacing him.
“If we play anything like that against anyone, we’ll give them a run for their money,” Collingwood said after their win against South Africa.
“The contributions Pietersen has made in the last two games – two Man of the Matches – have been fantastic. His contributions have certainly gone a long way towards getting us into the semi-finals.”
The hope now is that Pietersen will be back by midweek to lead England’s batting charge in the semi-finals, if they qualify.
England have also been boosted by the fine form of their spinners, Graeme Swann and Michael Yardy, who took five wickets between them against South Africa.
Collingwood said: “It’s a great combination to have, to see the ball going away from the right-hander and the ball coming in – you need that kind of variation. They are two completely different types of bowlers. Swanny’s a normal orthodox flight-and-guile spinner; Yards is a bit quicker but he can still turn the ball and he’s dangerous.”
New Zealand would be hoping that the one-run win against Pakistan could turn their fortunes. “We are proud of what we achieved,” said captain Daniel Vettori.
“Our destiny is in our hands. We know we’ve got to beat England now and hopefully we can do that.”
Vettori knows that much wuold rely on his fast bowlers Kyle Mills and Ian Butler who produced impressive figures against Pakistan.
“The selection of Ian and Kyle gave us a bit more impetus. We managed to take wickets and kept taking them which makes a difference. The total wasn’t enough but we knew if we started well we had a chance,” he said.
The batting however needs to be more consistent.