New Zealand seam bowler Trent Boult is the world’s number two bowler in the ODI rankings. With four-wicket hauls in both World Cup warm-up matches, Boult looks in fine form and will be raring to face Sri Lanka on Saturday.
Boult' spell of four wickets for 33 runs hobbled India in their warm-up game, restricting Virat Kohli's side to a mere 179 runs and giving New Zealand a six-wicket victory. Three of Boult's four wickets were top-order batsmen—Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and K.L. Rahul. And what made Boult's performance decisive was the fact that he dismissed all three for less than 10 runs.
Boult is considered to be one of the deadliest bowlers in the initial overs of the Powerplay. He played a major role in taking New Zealand to its first-ever World Cup final in 2015. New Zealand lost the final to Australia.
Since the 2015 World Cup, Boult holds the record for the most wickets in overs 1-10 in ODIs—44 so far—at a creditable economy rate of just 4.36 runs. Boult has the ability to swing the ball either way, even in unresponsive conditions, and thereby poses a significant threat especially for top order batsmen.
Boult also has picked up 108 wickets since the last World Cup—the most by any seamer.
Boult, along with his seam bowling partner Tim Southee, are the fulcrum of New Zealand's bowling attack. New Zealand also has a strong batting line-up led by Kane Williamson, hungry to taste success after being at the brink in their last World Cup outing. Other pacer bowlers include Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson and all-rounder Colin de Grandhomme, whose contributions might come in handy. Spinners Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi are expected to play a crucial role in any eventual progress for New Zealand in the World Cup.
Sri Lanka have failed to make an impact in both their warm-up matches against South Africa and Australia, succumbing to heavy loses—their highest score in the warm-up games has been a mere 251 in conditions where 350-plus scores are close to being the norm.
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Sri Lanka have lost 41 of the 55 ODIs they have played since the start of 2017. Sri Lanka are heavily reliant on the batting of Kusal Mendis and Angelo Mathews. And their bowling remains dependent on ageing warhorse Lasith Malinga, who is playing his fourth World Cup.
New Zealand have won their last four matches against Sri Lanka by comfortable margins and will be hoping the trend continues at Cardiff on Saturday.
