Eoin Morgan says it would be a "hell of an achievement" for injury-hit England to beat New Zealand and reach the T20 World Cup final.
England and the Black Caps do battle at Zayed Cricket Stadium on Wednesday in a repeat of the 50-over World Cup final in 2019, when Morgan's side were crowned champions in the most dramatic fashion at Lord's.
Jason Roy has joined Tymal Mills on an injury list that already included Jofra Archer, Sam Curran and Ben Stokes.
England have won three of their past four T20 World Cup matches against New Zealand, one of those coming in a semi-final five years ago.
Captain Morgan says it would be a huge feat if they could defeat Kane Williamson's side once again in Abu Dhabi to set up a showdown with Pakistan or Australia.
The batsman said: "I wouldn't say [England are] strong favourites. New Zealand have a full-strength squad, we've obviously been hampered with a lot of injuries throughout this tournament.
"I think of all the things we've done well throughout this tournament, probably the strongest point has been the resilience within our squad to be able to find a way to move forward and forge on.
"We're playing really good cricket, the guys are extremely excited about the challenge against New Zealand and potentially the opportunity that might follow that.
"You might only get to the final and lose but getting to the final would be a hell of an achievement. We can't wait."
Morgan refused to be drawn on who will replace Roy at the top of the order to partner Jos Buttler, with another bowler coming into the side being one of the options.
"Within the group we’ve made a decision, I'm not willing to share that, unfortunately, but also the balance of the side will be determined on how the wicket looks and how we match-up against the Black Caps," Morgan added.
"Replacing him with another bowler would mean that you have 28 genuine overs on the field and a lot of options. If you were to go with a batter, it would mean a like-for-like replacement.
"Depending if it's a really good batting wicket, predicting if it's going to be a really good batting wicket, we might need the extra bit of bowling. If it's not, you might need the extra bit of batting.
"We're lucky, we have guys who queue up and want to bat in that top three, which is great because they want to go head-to-head with the big-name players in the tournament and big-name bowlers in the opposition."
Black Caps skipper Williamson knows England have the strength in depth to replace Roy.
He said: "I suppose whenever there's an injury, someone else comes in and you're not to know who they are until the toss. But you try and prepare and plan as best you can and then when you go out there, you're sort of competing in the moment.
"And that all matters then. But Jason's a big player for England and has been playing really nicely and getting the team off to good starts along with Jos.
"But as I mentioned, the depth on the England side is one of their strengths and we'll try and plan accordingly to the best of our ability.
"But largely [we] want to focus on the sort of cricket that we want to play as a group and keep developing on that as we've been doing throughout this tournament."
Alcaraz crashes out of Paris Masters after defeat to Humbert
World number two Carlos Alcaraz crashed out of the Paris Masters after an upset at the hands of 15th seed Ugo Humbert in the third round.
Alcaraz was aiming for a fifth title of the season in the French capital, but it was the world number 18 who emerged as 6-1 3-6 7-5 winner in two hours 17 minutes.
The Spaniard had no answer for Humbert in the first set, but fought back to level the proceedings in the second.
The third set was a tight affair, but it was 26-year-old Humbert who prevailed to take it 7-5 and reach the last eight at the ATP Masters 1000 event.
Humbert, looking for his third title of the season, will next face Australia’s Jordan Thompson, who progressed to the quarter-final by defeating Adrian Mannarino.
England aiming to be one of 'world's best' teams, says Earl
England have aspirations of greatness, asserted Ben Earl as he prepares to face New Zealand in a friendly at Twickenham.
The 26-year-old was optimistic about the progress England had made under Steve Borthwick despite registering two losses at the hands of the All Blacks in July.
England will be seeking revenge after losing the second match of the test in a devastatingly close 16-15 defeat. Immanuel Feyi-Waboso had scored a try to put England ahead after scores had been tied 10-10 at half-time, but two penalty kicks from Damian McKenzie ended their hopes.
Earl, however, believes the heartbreak has given his country an opportunity to develop.
“I think it’s an experience all the big teams go through, you have to go through some heartache to get over the line,” he told TNT Sports.
“It just feels like it’s the evolution of all the top teams, and we are a team that wants to be known as a great team, some of the world’s best.
“So we know the heartache is good for a while, but it’s time to go and do it at the right time. We got a glimpse of it against Ireland last year, and we feel we are due one, and we have learnt some really hard lessons over the summer, so we feel we are in a better place for it.
“We have always said you don’t win easily against us and that’s something we have developed over the last 18 months with Steve’s mindset and the boys getting hold of it, and now I feel it’s time to get over the line in one of these big games.”
New Zealand have won their last three matches, having defeated Japan and secured a double over Australia. They struggled against reigning world champions South Africa, however, as they failed to exact revenge on the Springboks in late summer tests falling to defeat twice.
Undoubtedly, the All Blacks still represent some of the best talent in the world, with Earl expected to line up opposite New Zealand’s superstar Wallace Sititi.
“There’s stardust littered all over the pitch isn’t there? There’s some pretty cool match-ups; it just feels like a game that isn’t going to disappoint,” he said.
England won’t be overawed, though. Instead, they aim to make their west London home a fortress for visiting sides to travel to.
“[Twickenham is] a place where we want to be really, really hard to beat. And we’ve always said in the camp, if you want to beat us at Twickenham you are going to have to be over and above the norm,” Earl said.
Matthew Nandu's century in vain as Harpy Eagles, CCC Marooners contest end in No-result
Guyana Harpy Eagles and Combined Campuses and Colleges Marooners were robbed an opportunity to bounce back from opening defeats in the CG United Super50 Cup as their second contest ended in a no result due to inclement weather at the Sir Frank Worrell Memorial Ground in Trinidad and Tobago on Thursday.
With the encounter initially reduced to 45 overs per side, the Harpy Eagles got their innings in and posted a competitive 271-7, thanks to a century from Canada-born Matthew Nandu (116), and half-centuries from captain Tevin Imlach (51) and Kemol Savory, who was left unbeaten on an even 50 off 42 balls.
Nandu’s knock came off 103 balls and included five sixes and seven fours, as he partnered with Imlach in a 123-run second wicket stand after Tagenarine Chanderpaul (13) went cheaply. Imlach struck five fours in his brisk 58-ball knock before he fell to Abhijai Mansingh, who also accounted for Kevlon Anderson (11).
Nandu and Savory then posted another 52 runs for the fourth wicket to keep the momentum going, but the former became the first of three quick wickets as the Marooners gradually pulled things back. Still, Savory pressed on in a dynamic knock that had two fours and one six to put the Harpy Eagles in a decent position.
Mikkel Govia (4-42) did the most damage for the Marooners with support from Mansingh (2-42).
The Marooners run chase started positively with Kamil Pooran (20) and Kieran Powell (8 not out) posting 32 for the first wicket before the rain had the final say after a mere 6.5 overs.
This no result means both teams are still left to play catch up, as the Harpy Eagles lost their first contest by one wicket to Windward Islands Volcanoes, while the Marooners went down by 60 runs to reigning champions Trinidad and Tobago Red Force.
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