ENG Vs NZ Match Highlights: New Zealand have defeated England by 9 wickets in the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 opener at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. After winning the toss and electing to bowl first, New Zealand kept England down to 282/9 before chasing down the total with 82 balls remaining and just 1 wicket down. Devon Conway (152* off 121) and Rachin Ravindra (123* off 96) smashed unbeaten hundreds for the Black Caps and at no stage allowed any pressure to to get to them.
Conway and Ravindra stitched an unbeaten 273-run stand off 211 deliveries, in a partnership that saw them tackle the challenges posed by both pace and spin with ease and grace. While the match was being dubbed as a repeat of the 2019 finals where England had narrowly edged out New Zealand, it was the Men in Black who showed that they won't be mere pushovers this World Cup by any stretch of the imagination especially with the Three Lions entering as the defending champions and one of the favourites to go all the way.
With the ball in hand, Matt Henry was the pick of the bowlers for the Kiwis and he finished with figures of 3/48. Mitchell Santner scalped 2/37 while Ravindra scalped 1/76 before his heroics with the bat. Even part-timer Glenn Phillips picked 2 wickets for 17 runs off his 3 overs. Trent Boult after being expensive off his first spell came back well to finish with 1/48 in a game where New Zealand were without Kane Williamson and Tim Southee.
England crated a record as each of their 11 batters scored in double figures but they would have ideally wanted a few of those at least to go on to score a big one which only Joe Root managed, scoring the first half-century of the tournament. Root got out for 77 off 86 balls. Among the others to chip in with the bat for New Zealand was Jos Buttler who scored 43 off 42 but he was also guilty of throwing his wicket away after getting set.
In the 283 run chase, New Zealand did lose Will Young for a golden duck to Sam Curran but that was the only moment of glory for England in the second half of the match where two Wellington boys led New Zealand to a dominating victory in Ahmedabad.