Cricket Highlights, 5 October: ICC Cricket World Cup (1st Match) – England vs New Zealand – The World Cup began with New Zealand humiliating the defending champions.

England vs New Zealand (1st Match) – Highlights

After falling to England in the 2019 World Cup final, New Zealand had to abandon their title aspirations. This time, they defeated the champions in the opening game of the ICC World Cup to exact delicious retribution.

At the Narendra Modi Stadium in Hyderabad Thursday, the Kiwis crushed the reigning champions in the 1st match. They chased the target of 283 runs in 36.2 overs, with 9 wickets in hand.

But the run chase was a setback for New Zealand. After being caught by the wicketkeeper with the bat touching Sam Curran’s leg-side ball, Will Young (0 for 1) hit a golden duck. After 10 runs were scored in the second over, the Kiwis lost their first wicket.

However, when Rachin Ravindra came, Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra appeared as fireballs. They made all of the excellent shots and perplexed the English bowlers.

Conway needed 83 balls to score a century. The fastest century by a Kiwi batsman in the World Cup is Rachin Ravindra, who took one ball less than Conway to reach three figures.

In the second wicket, Conway and Ravindra left the field after winning the match in a devastating partnership of 274 runs off 211 balls. This is now the best second-wicket partnership in ODIs for New Zealand.

With 123 runs off 96 balls (11 fours and 5 sixes), Rabindra was still undefeated. Conway scored 152 runs off 121 balls in an impressive innings, hitting 19 fours and 3 sixes.

Prior to this, England had 7 wickets for 229 runs. There was no specialist batsman present when Joe Root was dismissed. Nevertheless, the English put up a difficult total of 282 runs for 9 wickets.

England was put into bat in Ahmedabad after Kiwi captain Tom Latham won the toss. It wasn’t a bad start. In the opening combination, Jonny Bairstow and Dawid Malan scored 40 runs off 46 balls.

Malan was slow while playing. Then, Matt Henry made him a wicket-keeper’s catch, and that time Malan scored just 14 runs off 24 balls. In the eighth over, the English lost their first wicket.

Then, Jonny Bairstow became quiet. With 33 runs from 35 balls, he was forced to stop in Mitchell Santner’s whirlwind as well. Harry Brock, however, was unable to escape his natural batting.

Consequently, Brook returned to the dressing room with 25 off 16 balls. He hit 4 boundaries and 1 six. As a result, the English lost 3 wickets before the hundred (94 runs).

The spin attack from New Zealand forced Moeen Ali to give up too. The all-rounder returned while sweeping Glenn Phillips’s ball for 11 runs off 17 balls.

The pressure was on the English batters after losing 4 wickets for 118 runs. Joe Root, though, rallied the group after that. This English batter also contributed to the World Cup’s first half-century this year. 

This batsman came to the wicket after losing the first wicket in the team’s 40 runs. He took the team to 227 runs. Root scored 77 runs off 86 balls with 4 boundaries and 1 six while getting bold out off Glenn Phillips. This was his 37th fifty in his ODI career.

Jos Buttler, the captain, introduced a brief storm in between. played a 43-run off 42-ball inning that included two four-sixes. Liam Livingstone also scored 20 runs off 22 balls.

The bottom-order batsmen Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, and Mark Wood helped England post a challenging total of 282 runs after losing 7 wickets for 229 runs in the 42nd over. Woakes (11), Rashid (15), Wood (13), and Curran (14) all contributed in the total.

Matt Henry of New Zealand took 3 wickets for 48 runs. Each of Glenn Phillips and Mitchell Santner claimed two wickets. Additionally, Trent Boult and Rachin Ravindra each claimed one wicket.

England vs New Zealand Scoreboard 

England – 282/9 (50.0)  

New Zealand – 283/1 (36.2)

Result – New Zealand won by 9 wickets

Player of the match – Rachin Ravindra

England vs New Zealand Playing XIs