Ricky Ponting, Australia’s assistant coach at the 2019 World Cup, believes England will beat New Zealand in Sunday’s final and lift the trophy for the first time.

Ponting was not alone before the tournament in highlighting England as the team to beat, and after 47 matches spread over a month-and-a-half, the hosts are one step away from making those predictions come true.

That is no surprise to the man who skippered two World Cup-winning campaigns and who witnessed first-hand the clinical manner of England’s semi-final victory over Australia at Edgbaston.

“I think England will win,” Ponting told cricket.com.au. “I said before the tournament started that I thought they’d be exceptionally hard to beat.

“I had them as the favourites coming in, nothing changes now. New Zealand have done amazingly well to get into the final, and well done to them. Two consecutive World Cup finals is an awesome achievement for that group and they’ll have some experiences to take out of that last final, whereas none of the England players have played in a final before.

“That being said, I think there’s just a bit too much class in this England side for them not to win.”

With Australia’s chances of a sixth title dead, Ponting is already thinking ahead to the Ashes and the impact Sunday’s outcome might have on that Test series – for better or worse.

“We won all the big moments in the first half of the tournament and we’ve lost most of the big moments in the last couple of games. That’ll be the thing that gets spoken about the most to see if there’s any reason behind it.

“Up until a week ago, we were probably the favourites to win the whole thing and we just haven’t played at our best.”

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