Cardiff, Jun 8 New Zealand and Bangladesh enter their final group match of the ICC Champions Trophy here tomorrow with the knowledge that even a win may not be enough to see either of them into the semifinals. Now, with an eight-wicket, tournament-opening victory over Bangladesh under their belt, England go up against a New Zealand side in need of a win in Cardiff, their own curtain-raiser against neighbours and rivals Australia having been washed out.
England captain Eoin Morgan says they will not take their foot off the gas as they prepare to face Australia on Saturday.
New Zealand will look to revive their Champions Trophy campaign by beating England in Cardiff on Tuesday after a frustrating start to the one-day worldwide tournament.
Joe Root top-scored with an impressive 64 -- his 32nd score above fifty in 85 ODIs -- as England posted an all-out score of 310 after being put in to bat.
'I thought we were probably 10 or 15 below par - given that 320 is probably a par score regardless of the game we're playing in these days'.
Cristiano Ronaldo: Portugal shouldn't panic after Mexico draw
They wouldn't keep their lead into half-time though, Javier Hernandez drawing Mexico level just before the interval. The powerful team Portugal faces Mexico today June 18, Sunday at Kazan , Russia.
Should Australia win, it will extend their stay in Birmingham where they would play in the second semi-final against the victor of Group B - which is likely to be South Africa or India - on June 15.
The match was effected by rain but overs were not reduced in either innings.
The dismissal of the New Zealand captain, caught behind off a Mark Wood cross-seam delivery which bounced more than Williamson was expecting, was a vital moment and symptomatic of the assistance England's bowlers were able to get from a slow Cardiff pitch. "They're all big lads, and they pretty much hit that sort of maybe six-metre length and created a little of variability out of the surface and didn't give us much at all".
"We know how well we've done and we know that if we perform to anywhere near our capability we are going to be a really tough team to beat", said England all-rounder Ben Stokes. In fact they looked all set to chase down the target with 158-2 after 30 overs.
"We'll have a very serious attitude", said Morgan. The main concern of their batting display centred again on Jason Roy, who made just 13 before being bowled around his legs by Adam Milne. The Black Caps never found a rhythm and ran out of wickets as the innings came to a close, not giving them the option to take a lot of risks.
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