|| Desk Report ||

England and New Zealand will lock horns for the first time in a World cup final. As these two teams have never won ODI World Cup before, the world is surely going to get a new champions after 23 years.

England and New Zealand started their rivalry back in 1973. And they were in some epic battles with one another and their winning percentage is almost 50-50. But the World cup final will be their greatest and biggest battle ever.

England are currently top in the ICC ranking and New Zealand are in third place. The three Lions acquired the third position in the point table and the Kiwis were fourth. 

Now, let's look at some of the interesting stats regarding England vs New Zealand.   

1. Last 10 matches: In their last 10 meetings, England have shown superiority over New Zealand. England have won seven matches and New Zealand won three. In the last bilateral series between these two sides in 2018, England were victorious by a 3-2 margin. 

2. Total matches: England and New Zealand have played 90 matches since 1973. And in those matches, New Zealand won 43 matches and England won 41 matches. Two of their matches were tied and in four matches there was no result.   

3. In World Cup : In the World cup, they have played nine matches so far. England have won four matches and New Zealand have won five matches in the World cup. They also faced each other in the group stages of this World cup and England won that match by 119 runs. England won the first three encounters in the World Cup and after that NewZealand won consecutive five encounters in the World Cup. England didnt win against New Zealand since 1983 World Cup, they have broken that curse in this World Cup by beating them by 119 runs. 

4. Individual performance: Joe Root has the most runs against New Zealand in the ODI's for England. He has played 20 matches against the Kiwis and scored 925 runs with an average of 57.81.

James Anderson is the highest wicket-taker in this fixture for England. He has taken 33 wickets in 23 matches for England.