The ICC Cricket World Cup (CWC) 2015 was jointly held in Australia and New Zealand which started on Feb 14 and ended on March 29. New Zealand cricket team was led by Brendon McCullum who played his last world cup in 2015 and retired from ODI cricket after that. Kiwis had a continuous winning streak in CWC 2015 until they reach the final where they lost to Australia. Let us have a look on the New Zealand cricket team's performance from World Cup 2015 ahead of ICC CWC 2019. New Zealand Team for ICC World Cup 2019: Blackcaps Announces Squad, Ish Sodhi Chosen Over Todd Astle, Wicket-Keeper Tom Blundell to Debut.

Group Stage: The Kiwis were placed in Pool A along with Australia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, England, Afghanistan and Scotland. New Zealand team won all their matches of the group stage and qualified to the quarterfinal with 12 points. ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 Schedule in PDF: Ticket Prices, Dates, Venue Details & Timetable Available for Download Online.

Quarterfinals:   New Zealand team faced West Indies in the quarterfinals. The Kiwis defeated Windies with a huge margin of 143 runs. Kiwi opener Martin Guptill scored a double century and steered his team to set a massive target of 394 for the Caribbeans. In reply, only Chris Gayle scored a half-century and the entire team got restricted to only 250 runs.

Semi-Final: The Kiwis played against South Africa in the semi-final of CWC 2015. This match was hit by rain and Proteas yet again justified their tag of chokers as they lost the opportunity to make it to the final. South Africa posted a total of 281/5 in 43 overs where it drizzled in between their inning. Kiwis got the target of 298 in 43 overs as per Duckworth Lewis Stern (DLS) method which they won by 4 wickets in 42.5 overs. Kiwi batsman Grant Eliott played an amazing knock of 84 runs from 73 balls to take his team through to the final.

Final: The final took place at Melbourne Cricket ground in front of the record cricket crowd of 93,013. After having such a wonderful tournament, Kiwis had a sorry end to their fairy tale in CWC 2015. New Zealand batted first in a rain-hit match which was reduced to 45 overs.  Kiwis got all out on 183 runs in 45 overs, in response Aussies chased down the target with ease where Australian skipper scored 74 runs from 72 balls. James Faulkner got Man of the Match award in CWC 2015 final for his figures of 3/36 in 9 overs.

New Zealand team will now be lead by Kane Williamson, who is very calm and composed. One cannot write them off in the race for CWC 2019 trophy. With star players like Ross Taylor, Martin Guptill and Trent  Boult Kiwis can become a threat for teams like Australia, South Africa and Pakistan. Unlike CWC 2015, this team World Cup tournament will not have any group division. The 10 participating teams in WC 2019 will play in the Round Robin format, where the top four will enter into the semi-final stage. The final of ICC CWC 2019 will be played on July 14 at Lord's, London.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 20, 2019 02:27 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).