‘We are not robots’, says Buttler after England’s tough loss,
AHMEDABAD – New Zealand kicked of their World Cup 2023 campaign in a style, crushing England by nine wickets in opening match of the event at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, on Thursday.
Glorious hundreds from Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra guided Black Caps to chase the target of 283 runs in just 36.2 overs.
Conway lit up the world cup opener with lively hundred as he amassed unbeaten 152 while Ravindra also showed magic with bat by scoring 123 runs off 96 balls.
— ICC (@ICC) October 5, 2023
In what could be dubbed as one-sided show, English bowlers seemed helpless as they struggled to take wickets and restrict Kiwis from chasing the target.
Earlier, the Black Caps put England to bat first after winning the toss. Jos Buttler’s side posted 282-9.
England opening pair attempted to take a strong start but their partnership was broken apart when Dawid Malan caught out for 14 off 24 balls. Opener Jonny Balrstow (33) tried to smash a drive on Santner’s ball but caught by Mitchell in 13th over.
After average start, Joe Root put his team in command as he made 77 off 86 before being dismissed by Glenn Phillips. Harry Brook and Moeen Ali made 25 and 11, respectively.
Jos Buttler tried to regain the momentum built by Root but he was sent to pavilion for 43. After his dismissal, England were quick to lose wickets of their tail order as Sam Curran and Chris Woakes removed for 14 and 11, respectively. Adil Rashid made 15 runs and Mark Wookd scored 12 runs as they managed to save the last wicket.
Henry took three wickets while Santer and Phillips grabbed two scalps each.
Earlier coverage
The New Zealand team are without their key batsman Williamson who is recovering from injuries. He is expected to play the next match.
Meanwhile, Sachin Tendulkar, ambassador of the event, brought the scintillating trophy to the field and waved to his jubilant fans. The two teams also bowed their heads in deference to their national anthems.
Bowling first in Game 1 after a toss win for skipper Tom Latham against @englandcricket in Ahmedabad. Lockie Ferguson not playing as a precaution with back stiffness. Follow play LIVE in NZ with @skysportnz. LIVE scoring | https://t.co/aNkBrDiAuv #CWC23 pic.twitter.com/s7vvfX30jJ
— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) October 5, 2023
Every four years, the cricket lovers enjoy the skills of their favourite players with their stylish knocks. The World Cup is a mega one-day international (ODI) cricket event.
As many as 10 teams – Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka – are going to battle to strengthen their reign in the cricket world.
The quadrennial event started in 1975 and it’s India which is going to host its 13th edition. The bout will start at 1:30pm between these two finalist teams of the last World Cup.
Both teams clashed in 96 ODI matches. Of these, the English team won 45 and black caps remained successful in 45 fixtures. Two matches were declared tied and four matches culminated without any result.
While,
A nine-wicket thumping is tough to digest but England captain Jos Buttler does not want to see his team mates wallow in self-pity after a horrible start to their World Cup title defence against New Zealand on Thursday.
The pyrotechnics promised by England’s explosive batting line-up did not materialise in the rematch of the 2019 final and their 282-9 was, at best, competitive on a decent track at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
The bowlers fared little better as New Zealand romped home in 36.2 overs with Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra smashing rapid hundreds.
Buttler accepted that England had been “completely outplayed” but the disappointment would not blur his perspective going forward in the tournament.
“The first thing that springs to mind is whether you lose by a run or a defeat like that, it is one loss at the start of a very long tournament,” the 33-year-old told reporters.
“That’s something that I’d be encouraging everyone to remember.
“It’s certainly a tough loss to take…but just as we, had we won the game, don’t get too high, we don’t get too low when we lose as well.”
Joe Root top-scored for England with 77, while Buttler (43) and Jonny Bairstow (33) also made starts.
“We were probably looking at a score of 320-330 which would have allowed us to build some kind of pressure,” said Buttler.
“But I thought the margin for error was very small on that wicket and two (New Zealand) batters played exceptional innings.”
England rested Ben Stokes, who is nursing a minor hip injury, and tried Harry Brook, who made a brisk 25 at number four before his soft dismissal.
Buttler said it was not the first time England had suffered a heavy defeat.
“We’re not robots. Sometimes you don’t play as well as you would like. Everyone’s working hard everyone’s prepared well and as I said we were just a bit off,” he said.
“There’s plenty of stuff for us to work on and get better at the start of a long tournament.”
England play Bangladesh in Dharamsala on Tuesday hoping to boost their net run-rate.
