England will play against New Zealand in a Twenty20 series, which starts Friday in Christchurch. Ahead of the first game, England's wicketkeeper-batsman Jonny Bairstow claimed that the Kiwis will be intent on taking revenge for what happened in the ICC Cricket World Cup Final at Lord's a few months ago.

Bairstow believes that the disappointing experience at the final has made the New Zealand players eager to perform better. He thinks that the loss was tough for the Kiwis to swallow and they would probably look for multiple ways to take revenge on the field.

Bairstow expects the New Zealand players to have a fire in their belly and an insatiable hunger to restore things from a cricketing point of view.

However, the New Zealand team rejected any theories of seeking revenge for the CWC Final. Instead, they are now focused on building momentum for the next World Cup. The ICC World T20 will be held in Australia next year between October and November.

Jonny Bairstow
Jonny Bairstow Getty Images

New Zealand coach Gary Stead said, "We obviously have a lot of T20 cricket on the horizon ahead of next year's World Cup and a tough five-game series against England should be a great start to the summer."

England will also use the Twenty20 series against New Zealand as the launchpad for their T20 World Cup campaign. The British brigade has rested their key players to keep them fresh ahead of a hectic season.

According to Sports 24, key performers like Jason Roy, Jos Buttler, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, and Moeen Ali are being rested after a draining season. Instead, Tom Banton, Pat Brown, Lewis Gregory, Saqib Mahmood, and Matt Parkinson are beng asked to perform if they want a place in the team for next year's showpiece tournament.

In the final of the 2019 World Cup, the Kiwis suffered one of the most heartbreaking defeats in the history of the game. The match was tied and the scores were still level even after the Super Over, which made the final one of the greatest cricket matches that has ever been played.

At the end of the match, however, it was England that emerged as the winner based on the number of boundaries scored. Cricket pundits from across the world questioned ICC's tie-breaking rules after the finale ended.

T20 World Cup