Stokes, who was the hero of England’s 2019 closing win over the identical opponents, was a doubt forward of the event curtain-raiser after lacking the warm-up win over Bangladesh because of soreness in his left hip. England opted to not danger Stokes’ health and have stood him down.
Harry Brook, a late addition to the squad rather than the axed Jason Roy, got here into the XI in Stokes’ place. England named six survivors from their triumph at Lord’s 4 years in the past – Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Jos Buttler, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid and Mark Wood. Seamer Reece Topley missed out in favour of all-rounders Sam Curran and Moeen Ali.
The Black Caps had been with out captain Kane Williamson, nonetheless recovering from a ruptured ACL, however stand-in Tom Latham received the toss and opted to bowl first.
“We’re going to have a bowl, it looks a reasonably good surface but hopefully later on when he get a chance with the bat, it gets better,” Latham mentioned.
England captain Jos Buttler admitted England would even have most popular to bowl first within the match, however added: “We’re very proud to be world champions and what we achieved four years ago but this is something new. We’re not defending anything, we’re here to attack and win it again.”
