On July 14, Sunday, at Lord's, no matter who wins between England and New Zealand, the one thing for certain is that it would be a historic occasion.
One of them will get their hands to the World Cup trophy for the first time since the inception of the tournament in 1975 and the other will have to wait for 4 more years for their first World Cup title.
Hosts England were the pre-tournament hot favorites while New Zealand was also expected to make it to the last four as the performances from the two teams were right on the money.
England lost 3 matches in the group fixtures against Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Australia. New Zealand was phenomenal in the first half of the World Cup but lost the momentum in the latter half. They were tied on 11 points with Pakistan but made it to the last four on the back of a better run rate.
England then avenged their group-stage defeat to Australia in a one-sided semi-final contest to enter the final for the 4th time, while the Blackcaps defeated India in a two-day long rain-interrupted semi-final clash.
England and New Zealand have faced each other 90 times thus far in an ODI format, from which the Kiwis have won on 43 occasions while England has tasted victory 41 times. 2 matches were tied between the two while 4 other games ended in no result.
The two rivals have encountered each other 9 times in the showpiece event. The recent clash between them was in the league fixture of the world cup 2019 in Leeds, where England crushed New Zealand by 119 runs to get themselves to the semi-finals.
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