World Cup final: Morgan predicts low-scoring final in England-New Zealand clash

London: England captain Eoin Morgan is predicting a tight, low-scoring match against New Zealand in the Cricket World Cup final at Lord's on Sunday.

New Zealand is one of only two teams - along with Afghanistan - to have failed to score at least 300 in any match this tournament but has proved adept at defending or chasing small totals. The Kiwis beat India in the semifinal in Manchester after posting 239 batting first.

Speaking from experience, as he plays his county cricket for Middlesex at Lord's, Morgan says it "isn't ever a high-scoring ground - so I'd say tomorrow isn't going to be a high-scoring game. I think it will be a bit of a battle."

That would follow the trend in World Cup finals, with only one side batting first scoring more than 300 runs. That was Australia, which posted 359-2 against India in 2003.

Widespread predictions of scores above 400 - even breaking the 500-run ceiling for the first time in ODIs - have proved to be way off the mark this World Cup. England's 397-6 against Afghanistan at Old Trafford has been the highest score.

Morgan said "in general, the scores have been a lot lower than they have been in the last two or three years. Adjusting to that has been hard work but New Zealand have handled that brilliantly."