ICC Men’s T20 WC 2026 | Match 49: England vs New Zealand | Preview and Predictions

England will take on New Zealand in match 49 at R. Premadasa Stadium on 27th February 2026. 

Here, we present our preview and predictions for Match no. 49 between England and New Zealand 

ICC Men’s T20 WC 2026 Super8 Group 2 | Match 49: England vs New Zealand | 19:00 IST, February 27, 2026

England are the first team to book their place in the semifinals of this year’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. The two-time world champions haven’t been always at their best but their wide array of match-winners have come up clutch time and again throughout this tournament to make them one of the clear favourites for the ultimate prize. 

While their batters haven’t quite delivered on a consistent basis, Phil Salt’s 62 off 40 against Sri Lanka and Harry Brook’s incredible 100 off 51 balls against Pakistan were the catalyst to both their wins in the Super8 stages, in addition to some quality all round bowling performance from the team. Although qualification is already sealed, they’ll want to keep the momentum going heading into the knockout fixtures. 

As for New Zealand, the Kiwis find themselves exactly where they’d want to be, following their rained out fixture against Pakistan in the Super8 opener. Playing co-hosts Sri Lanka in their second game, the Kiwis collapsed to 84 for 6 at one stage before a captain’s knock from Mitchell Santner (47 off 26) and support from Cole McConchie (31 off 23) propelled them to a competitive 168 for 7. 

With the ball, Matt Henry breathed fire with the new ball before Rachin Ravindra turned out to be the unlikely hero with the ball – grabbing four wickets – and helping the team seal a huge 61-run victory over the hosts, knocking them out in the process. 

Heading into their final Super8 fixture, the Kiwis have destiny in their own hands. A victory can secure their qualification to the semifinals as well as make the result of the Sri Lanka vs Pakistan fixture irrelavent, however, a defeat would leave the door open for Pakistan, who still stand a chance but need a sizeable against over Sri Lanka themselves.

In terms of weather forecast and pitch report, there is a 55% chance of rain in isolated areas during the afternoon, however, conditions expect to clear up by sunset. As evident from the six games played here at this venue so far, the surface here in Colombo offers a balanced wicket that generally deteriorates as the innings progresses. Teams batting first have won five of the six games played here so far this tournament with score around 160-170 being par. 

Looking ahead to this fixture, the English despite securing qualification cannot sit on their laurels while for the Kiwis – they’ll be taking this one as a must win contest and hope that they don’t have to rely on Sri Lanka to do them a favour. Although there isn’t much to choose between these two sides, we’re making England slight favourites for this one. 

Fantasy XI: Finn Allen, Phil Salt (c), Rachin Ravindra, Jos Buttler, Daryl Mitchell, Harry Brook, Will Jacks (vc), Mitchell Santner, Jofra Archer, Ish Sodhi, Jamie Overton 

Venue: R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo 

Winners Prediction: England