Kane Williamson and Virat Kohli
With the inaugural World Test Championship (WTC) final being just a month away, former England skipper Michael Vaughan has thrown his weight behind New Zealand to win the much-awaited contest against India.
The Kane Williamson-led New Zealand side has already arrived in the UK for their two-Test series against England. The Indian contingent, on the other hand, is expected to arrive in the first week of June. The ex-England captain feels Kiwi players will be accustomed to England conditions before Virat Kohli and Co. reaches Southampton.
The WTC final, scheduled to be played from June 18 at the Ageas Bowl, will be a repeat of the 2019 World Cup semi-final where New Zealand had secured an 18-run win in a rain-marred encounter against India.
"New Zealand (will win). English conditions, the Duke ball, and India on the back of a busy schedule they'll arrive pretty much a week before and go straight into it, [and] New Zealand have two test matches, you could argue warmups against England to get them prepared for the final," Vaughan told Spark Sport.
"So it's quite an obvious one for me, New Zealand will be better prepared and they'll have more of a group of players who've played more cricket with the red ball, particularly the Duke ball here in the UK. New Zealand, all the way."
Vaughan also said that New Zealand have started playing 'disciplined' Test cricket under captain Williamson. The BlackCaps had great players in the past but they were never consistent as a team, according to the 46-year-old.
"It’s not difficult, you haven’t had many great teams. You’ve had great players, you go back to the 80s, Richard Hadlee and Martin Crowe were up there with the greatest to have ever played test match cricket. As a team, Brendon McCullum’s team were exciting and vibrant but I never felt they were consistent because they let the opposition in by playing so aggressively," Vaughan added.
"Under Kane Williamson, you’ve started to play high class, disciplined test match cricket over long periods, and real quality teams do it over day one to five. And it takes until the end of day five to wear a team down to get that win, this is what this New Zealand side can do," Vaughan further said.
