Cricket World Cup: England emphatically beaten by New Zealand in opening match in Ahmedabad | Cricket News

England were resoundingly beaten by New Zealand in the opening match of the 2023 Men’s Cricket World Cup, the Black Caps besting the defending champions by nine wickets to gain revenge for their 2019 final defeat.

After England posted a pretty pedestrian 282-9 from their 50 overs, having been put into bat, New Zealand romped to victory in 36.2 overs, with Devon Conway (152no) and Rachin Ravindra (123no) both notching scintillating centuries on their World Cup debuts.

Sam Curran (1-47) had taken the wicket of Will Young (0) with his first ball, but Chris Woakes and Mark Wood went round the park at the other end as Conway and Ravindra brought up the New Zealand 100 to start the 13th over.

England had no answer to the blistering run-scoring, the Kiwi pair serenely going through to three figures, with Conway reaching 150 shortly before New Zealand clinched a most emphatic of opening victories.

Earlier, Joe Root’s return to form continued as, following his unbeaten 26 in the warm-up win over Bangladesh on Monday, he top-scored for England with 77 to seemingly set the platform for a 300-plus score.

But wickets tumbled at regular intervals throughout the innings, with Root becoming the seventh to fall in the midst of a miserable spell which saw the defending champions lose four for 31 between the 39th and 46th overs – precisely the point at which they should have been looking to launch.

Captain Jos Buttler hit 43 off 42 balls, sharing in a 70-run partnership with Root, while Harry Brook – playing in place of Ben Stokes, still recovering from a hip injury – managed 25, striking two fours and a six off three consecutive deliveries before falling to Ravindra’s fourth.

The innings had started so well as, after New Zealand won the toss, Jonny Bairstow flicked Trent Boult’s second ball for six over deep backward square-leg. He and Dawid Malan put on 40 for the first wicket before Malan nicked off to the mightily impressive Matt Henry (3-48).

Spin then took over for the Black Caps, containing England well in the middle overs, with the economical Mitchell Santner (2-37) picking up Bairstow (33), Ravindra (1-76) adding Brook after his brief boundary blitz and Glenn Phillips (2-17) bowling Moeen Ali (11).

Root and Buttler appeared to have steadied things with their impressive stand, the former bringing up a 37th ODI fifty off 57 balls in the process, until Henry returned to account for the skipper, caught behind.

Then, approaching the 40-over mark and with another partnership building between Root and Liam Livingstone (20), Boult (1-48) deceived the latter with a brilliantly-disguised knuckleball.

Phillips then claimed the key wicket of Root, bowled when attempting to reverse-sweep a ball that was a touch too full, before Curran (14) and Woakes (11) came and went without doing much damage.

Adil Rashid (15no) and Wood (13no) at least ensured England batted out their full 50-over allocation, but it looked to be an under-par total and so it proved rather emphatically.

Curran claimed Young to a tickled edge down the legside as part of back-to-back opening maidens from the left-armer, but the usually reliable Woakes conceded 27 from his first three overs, while Wood coughed up 38 in three when relieving his fellow quick.

The spinners brought no respite, with Ravindra racing through to a 36-ball fifty with a huge six over deep midwicket off Moeen and Conway matching that effort for speed as a boundary off Rashid’s next saw him to his half-century.

Conway eventually overtook his partner, reaching three figures – his fifth ODI century, off 83 deliveries – to start the 27th over, with Ravindra following through to the milestone, off 82 balls, in the 31st.

And the pair stuck it through to the finish, the scoring rate showing no let-up, as New Zealand clinched the most convincing of opening victories. England are left to lick their wounds and with much to mull over before their next match against Bangladesh on Tuesday.

‘England won’t read too much into defeat’

England captain Jos Buttler:

“It was a disappointing day. We were very much outplayed by New Zealand and it is a tough defeat to take. But it’s just one loss.

“A lot of guys in our team have played a lot of cricket, we have beaten teams in this way before and been on the end of these results as well.

“We won’t read too much into it or get too down on ourselves. Just like we wouldn’t get too high if we had won.

“We will keep being positive and play our way. It shows you need good scores on the board to be able to defend them.

“You can’t be too defensive. We just weren’t quite on with our execution. We were a long way short of our best but still made 280.”

‘England below par – but we must not panic’

England batter Joe Root, who top-scored with 77:

“We were below par in all departments if we are being brutally honest. Batting-wise I don’t think we had the best of conditions but we kept stalling after building partnerships.

“It was a really frustrating day but it’s important to remember that there is so much cricket in this tournament. It is important that we don’t panic.

“We don’t need to spend a long time talking, we know where we have gone wrong. It’s how can we make sure we don’t find ourselves in this situation next time.

“When have you seen a World Cup campaign where there isn’t a stumbling block? We must stay calm.”

What’s next?

The Cricket World Cup continues with a clash between Pakistan and the Netherlands on Friday, while hosts India open their tournament on Sunday in a mouth-watering matchup against Australia – both games live on Sky Sports Cricket from 9am (first ball at 9.30am).

As for England, they’ll look to get their first win on the board against Bangladesh on Tuesday, with that game also live on Sky Sports Cricket at the earlier time of 5.30am (first ball at 6am). Full World Cup fixture list and timings can be found here.

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