New Zealand strongest team across formats: Atherton

Black Caps
New Zealand players and support staff celebrate their win over England. Photo: Reuters

New Zealand have shown they are the strongest team across all formats of the game after reaching the final of the Twenty20 World Cup, former England captain Michael Atherton said.

Daryl Mitchell's unbeaten 72 and Jimmy Neesham's blistering cameo in Abu Dhabi led New Zealand to a dramatic five-wicket win over England as they entered their first T20 World Cup final on Wednesday.

The Black Caps reached the finals of the 50-overs World Cup in 2015 and 2019 and beat India this year to win the inaugural World Test Championship title.

"They are an outstanding team, in all formats of the game really," Atherton told Sky Sports.

"Across formats, you would have to say they are the strongest team at the moment so congratulations to them, a fantastic achievement with limited resources in terms of personnel and money and things that we've often talked about."

New Zealand will face either Australia or Pakistan in Sunday's final in Dubai.

The comments posted here/below/in the given space are not on behalf of Onmanorama. The person posting the comment will be in sole ownership of its responsibility. According to the central government's IT rules, obscene or offensive statement made against a person, religion, community or nation is a punishable offense, and legal action would be taken against people who indulge in such activities.