ODI World Cup 2023: England scored 282 runs in the opening game

Advertisement

The World Cup 2023 in India has kicked off with a rematch of the previous edition’s final. Both sides had notable players missing the game. England scored 282 runs in the opening game. New Zealand were missing the services of their skipper, Kane Williamson as well as talismanic fast bowler Tim Southee. The defending champions were missing Ben Stokes. Tom Latham, the stand-in skipper for New Zealand won the toss and elected to bowl first. 

Advertisement

A slow powerplay for England

Jonny Bairstow opened the innings with Dawid Malan while Tent Boult opened the bowling for New Zealand. Bairstow kicked off the World Cup in style by smashing just the second ball of the match for a six. Alongside, Boult, Matt Henry shared the new ball. Henry proved to be more effective than Boult. Malan’s scratchy knock came to an end in the eighth over of the innings when he was dismissed by Henry. The only anchor player in the team Joe Root then came to the crease. At the end of the powerplay, England had scored 51 runs for the loss of the solitary wicket. By England’s standards, this was a slow start.

New Zealand chips away with regular wickets

Bairstow soon after the powerplay perished to the left-arm spin of Mitchell Santner. The English opener was trying to play an inside-out shot but smashed it straight to Darryl Mitchell. Ben Stokes’ replacement for the game Harry Brook was playing at number four. Brook scored 25 runs quickly in just 16 balls hitting four fours and one six. It was a poor short ball from Rachin Ravindra to which Brook was trying to play a pull shot. Brook mistimed the ball and gave a catch to Devon Conway at deep mid-wicket. Ravindra was hit for two fours and one six in three balls prior to dismissing Brook. 

Moeen Ali was the fourth English batter to be dismissed. Moeen was promoted up the order to tackle the left-arm spin of Mitchell Santner and Rachin Ravindra. Latham got his right-arm spinner, Glenn Phillips into the attack and the move worked like a charm as Phillips struck in his very first over clean bowling Moeen Ali.

Skipper, Jos Buttler joined Joe Root and the duo shared a 70-run stand. Buttler took the aggressive role in the partnership scoring 43 runs in just 42 balls hitting two fours and sixes. He too was dismissed by Henry. Root was the constant player at one end while wickets fell in front of him. Liam Livingstone was dismissed after scoring 20 runs in 22 balls just before the last 10 overs. 

New Zealand bowlers control death overs

Heading into the last phase of the innings, England had lost Root in the 42nd over with 229 runs on the board. Santner then dismissed Chris Woakes for 11 runs. Four balls later in the next over, Henry picked up his third wicket dismissing Sam Curran. England was not able to make full use of their long batting lineup. The last-wicket partnership between Adil Rashid and Mark Wood added some useful runs for the defending champions. Rashid smashed Neesham for a six in the last over to provide a boost at the end of the innings. The duo shared a useful 30-run stand.

Advertisement