ICC World Cup 2019 | There is more pressure on England in the final, claims Gary Stead

New Zealand defended a modest total of 239 in the semi-final against India and did extremely well to make it to the semi-finals. Coach Gary Stead has stated that they don’t have to play the perfect game but adapt to the conditions offered, like they did perfectly against India.  

“We don’t have to play the perfect game. What we have to do is to be able to adapt to conditions in front of us. Working out that 240 (vs India) is a good score is the strength the guys have, especially the middle order. Guys like Kane, Ross, Tom Latham, they have a lot of experience,” Stead said, reported Scroll.in. 

New Zealand have been silently effective and have made it to the finals of the prestigious event for the second time in a row. England were hot favourites coming to the World Cup and Stead feels that could put slightly more pressure on the hosts. Stead dismissed the fact that there are no underdogs in a World Cup final and both the teams stand an equal chance of winning the trophy.

 “I don’t know who is the underdog here. That is for the media to say. We are going in with a 50-50 chance and we need to be a little bit better than England on Sunday. There is pressure on both teams. The exciting thing is that both teams have not won the World Cup and both have experience of finals. But since England and India were looked at as winners, maybe there is more pressure on them,” Stead added.