England beat New Zealand to enter into the semi-finals of a ICC Cricket World Cup for the first time since 1992. Eoin Morgan’s men were clinical in their display and after a brief stutter in the middle of their campaign, they have been ruthless in the last two matches against India and New Zealand. With momentum on their side, they look a dangerous side in the knockouts.

Former England captain Michael Vaughan, who has been vocal on Twitter all campaign has predicted an England-India semi-final in Birmingham. While this fixture remains the most obvious scenario, it could all change if Australia go down to South Africa and then India beat Sri Lanka in their final games respectively. If the aforementioned results do take place, India will take the number 1 spot and will face New Zealand, while Australia will take on England at Edgbaston.

“Great performance .. Strong mentality over the last few days .. Bring on #India in Birmingham,” Vaughan said on Twitter.

Great performance .. Strong mentality over the last few days .. Bring on #India in Birmingham .. #CWC19

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) July 3, 2019

It’s a place that we really like playing,” England captain Eoin Morgan said after the win against New Zealand.

“If we had a choice of where we would play our group-stage games, Edgbaston, the Oval and Trent Bridge would probably be the three grounds where we would have played the nine games.

“It is comforting that we are going to one of those three grounds.” England’s total of 305-8 against New Zealand, made after Morgan won the toss, was built on a third successive century stand between openers Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy.

First Published: Jul 04, 2019 13:33 IST