The Latest: New Zealand wins toss, bats 1st in final

By Associated Press 14 July 2019, 12:00AM

LONDON (AP) — The Latest on the Cricket World Cup final (all times local):

10:20 a.m.

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson has won the toss and chosen to bat first against England under cloudy, threatening skies at Lord's.

England captain Eoin Morgan said it would have been a "50/50 call" and was "not at all" disappointed to be bowling first.

Both teams are unchanged from the semifinals.

Lineups:

New Zealand: Martin Guptill, Henry Nicholls, Kane Williamson (captain), Ross Taylor, Tom Latham, Jimmy Neesham, Colin de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Trent Boult.

England: Jonny Bairstow, Jason Roy, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan (captain), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Chris Woakes, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood.

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10 a.m.

The start of the final has been delayed by 15 minutes because of the early-morning rain.

Play is now scheduled to begin at 10.45 a.m. local time. The toss is at 10.15 a.m.

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9:30 a.m.

There will be a first-time winner of the Cricket World Cup trophy when England takes on New Zealand in the final at Lord's on Sunday.

England is in the title match for the fourth time, and the first since 1992, while New Zealand is playing in a second final, after losing to Australia in 2015.

After some early-morning rain, the covers are off at the home of cricket, revealing a green-looking pitch. World Cup finals tend to be low-scoring matches and this is likely to be no exception, if previous matches at Lord's are anything to go by.

England starts as the favorite, having been the top-ranked one-day side for the past year and beaten India, New Zealand and then Australia — in the semifinals — in its last three games this tournament.

New Zealand, No. 3 in the ODI rankings, defeated India in the semifinals and should be better for its experience of the final four years ago.

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More AP cricket: www.apnews.com/Cricket and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

By Associated Press 14 July 2019, 12:00AM

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