Favourites England take on Black Caps in the final at Lord’s with both sides aiming for a first World Cup title.

The new 50-over cricket world champions will emerge at Lord’s after what many consider will be a battle between England’s deep batting lineup and New Zealand’s incisive bowling attack.

England ruthlessly destroyed five-times champions Australia to move to the cusp of their maiden men’s 50-over Cricket World Cup title, while New Zealand’s crafty bowlers defended a small total against two-times champions India in the other semi-final.

Sunday will see the eyes of the cricketing world lock on London, where England, in their fourth final and first since 1992, take on New Zealand who have reached the title decider for the second consecutive time.

The omens are good for Eoin Morgan’s side, bidding to become the third consecutive host nation to win the One-Day International (ODI) cricket tournament following India in 2011 and Australia, who cohosted with New Zealand, in 2015.

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The Black Caps will hope the result is different this year than it was in 2015, when they lost to Australia by seven wickets.

Neither side has won the tournament before, guaranteeing there will be a new name on the cup.

The route to the final

New Zealand finished fourth after the league matches with five wins from nine matches, scraping past fifth-placed Pakistan who narrowly lost out on a spot in the semi-finals on net run rate.

Despite shock losses against Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Australia, tournament favourites and top-ranked ODI side England finished third before resoundingly beating defending champions Australia by eight wickets in the semi-final.

Head-to-head

The Black Caps edge England out on head-to-head record in ODI, winning 43 compared with England’s 41.

New Zealand also have a better record in World Cup match-ups, pipping England in five out of their nine contests.

Captain talk

Eoin Morgan – England captain: ”I haven’t allowed myself to think about lifting the trophy. Cricket, and sport in particular, is very fickle. If you ever get ahead, it always seems to bite you in the backside.

“So for us to win it, I think around the country it would be awesome, great for the game. I think quite iconic in certainly young kids’ memory if they are watching it at home and we manage to lift the trophy, it would be awesome.”

Kane Williamson – New Zealand captain: “I think England rightly so deserve to be favourites. Coming into this tournament, they were favourites and they’ve been playing really good cricket.

“But whatever dog we are, it’s just important that we focus on the cricket that we want to play and we have seen over the years that anybody can beat anybody regardless of breed of dog.”