England's batsmen looked stuck in the headlights, going back to full balls. New Zealand picked up the right length to bowl really quickly, and Southee was terrific, but technically I couldn't believe what England did, or didn't do.
The basis of batting is to get to the pitch of the ball. You get to the length by moving your feet. They were going back, then trying to get forward, and at that level it's really hard to do.
In New Zealand's brief innings, while Brendon McCullum was very impressive, the England bowlers didn't adjust enough.
When he attacked McCullum went straight down the wicket at them.
Some days he goes leg side and only has one side of the wicket to attack. But this time when England adjusted - which they didn't do much anyway - he still had two sides of the wicket as options to use, which makes him an even more dangerous player.
England's bowlers seemed bereft of ideas. They're now in trouble. Bangladesh picked up a point on Saturday and England have two huge games to come, against Sri Lanka on March 1 and Bangladesh on March 9.
Now for Australia. In my mind, these are two teams who have a pretty similar style.
They have power players up front, accumulators and improvisers through the middle and more power near the end.
Australia have aggressive quick bowlers; we have bowlers who will hunt wickets and look to be aggressive too.
The key will be what happens early on.
If New Zealand bat, it will be Mitchell Johnson against McCullum, Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson; Australia will have David Warner, Aaron Finch and Shane Watson against Southee and Boult.
Is McCullum going to go as hard as he has done? You'd think so, as that seems his default position. He will look to get ascendancy early, and how will Johnson react to that?
Warner and Finch are power players. Finch attacks all round the wicket, Warner tends to go aerial, over cover and mid off. Southee and Boult have good rhythm running in, and coach Shane Bond has got them in good shape.
Finally this will be one of the best fielding match-ups in the Cup. Coaches should watch closely; so should young players for the way these teams will shut down the batsmen and seize opportunities. A fielding group should hunt as a pack, using an 11 vs 2 mentality.
The infielders set the early tone and look to squeeze the batsmen and force high risk shots. Both teams will have lofty goals they want to achieve in the field.
It's not the final, but New Zealand can guarantee a home semifinal - assuming they get that far - by finishing ahead of Australia in pool play.
New Zealand will also be determined to set out their stall with a possible later meeting in mind. There's no question you can mark this game down as a potential dress rehearsal for the final in Melbourne at the end of March.
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