England vs Netherlands Prediction: Woakes can lead sorry England to 2nd win

Will this Cricket World Cup never end? At least, that’s what the England team will be thinking, as they play their penultimate match against the Netherlands. We have previewed the match starting on Wednesday morning (08:30) and given you our betting predictions. 

Who would have thought just over a month ago, that England (1/10) versus the Netherlands (11/2) would be a battle for the wooden spoon and to potentially secure a place in the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy?

Well that very scenario has come to fruition, after a disastrous campaign to defend their 2019 title by the English side. Matthew Mott’s side sit rock bottom in the group table, with just one win(against Bangladesh) from their seven games to date.

Their batting has been absolutely abject and it could be said that so has the selection and captaincy. You get the feeling that this could be final swing for many of this ageing side, indeed David Willey has already announced his retirement from international cricket, after failing to secure a central contract.

Ben Stokes has announced he will undergo knee surgery following this tournament, in an attempt to be ready for the India test series and it’s easy in hindsight, but you have to question the wisdom of him reversing his ODI retirement to play a part in this series.

Now they have to beat the Netherlands or face the prospect of not qualifying for a major ICC tournament for the first time in their long and storied history.

For the Dutch, it’s been a tournament to remember, with impressive wins over Bangladesh and in particular South Africa about to live long in the memory. Can they now top those all and beat the defending champions to go out with a bang?

Team news

England have been unchanged for their last three losses but surely now is the time to mix the side up a bit? Harry Brook will hopefully get a recall and there could be chances for Sam Curran too.

England (from): Jos Buttler (c & wk), Moeen Ali, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes, Brydon Carse, David Willey, Mark Wood and Chris Woakes.

The Dutch could be tempted to go back to Vikramjit Singh at the top of the order, after the failure of Wesley Barresi against Afghanistan.

Netherlands (from): Scott Edwards (c & wk), Colin Ackermann, Wesley Barresi, Bas de Leede, Aryan Dutt, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Ryan Klein, Teja Nidamanuru, Max O’Dowd, Saqib Zulfiqar, Shariz Ahmad, Logan van Beek, Roelof van der Merwe, Paul van Meekeren and Vikramjit Singh.

Chris Woakes top ENG wicket taker – 18/5

The 34-year-old veteran has been one of the bright sparks for England in the last few defeats and has lived up to the mantra that the more he plays, the better he gets.

Woakes picked up 4/54 in the loss to Australia and has his line and length in a much better shape than earlier in the tournament. The Warwickshire star now sits on eight wickets and is closing in on Adil Rashid to be England’s top wicket taker. I think he can close that gap further in Pune.

Roelof van der Merwe top NED wicket taker – 3/1

Another veteran of the international game, the 38-year-old shows no sign of abating and had played this tournament with a mixture of brilliance and competitive spirit.

The slow left arm orthodox bowler is extremely accurate and pushes the ball onto you faster than you are expecting it.

Van der Merwe has picked up just five wickets so far in the World Cup but this is exactly the sort of bowler that England have struggled with, similarly to how they struggled against Mujeeb of Afghanistan.

I expect him to trouble the middle order when they are trying to accelerate the score on.

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