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| Devon Conway scored 152 off 121 balls while young Rachin Ravindra scored an unbeaten 123 off 96 balls. A 273-run partnership was formed between the two. Photo: X/@BlackCaps |
AHMEDABAD: New Zealand thrashed defending champions England by nine wickets after a one-sided match, thanks to brilliant centuries from Devon Conway and Ravindra.
New Zealand easily achieved the target of 283 runs given by England in the 37th over with the loss of just one wicket.
Devon Conway scored 152 off 121 balls while young Rachin Ravindra scored an unbeaten 123 off 96 balls. A 273-run partnership was formed between the two.
Two quickfire hundreds from Rachin Ravindra and Devon Conway helped New Zealand to a comfortable win in the #CWC23 opener 👊#ENGvNZ 📝: https://t.co/9XyPD7lF90 pic.twitter.com/qR6tnjQLGB
— ICC Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) October 5, 2023
New Zealand won the toss and elected to field against England in the opening match of the World Cup at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
England scored 282 runs for the loss of 9 wickets in 50 overs, Joe Root scored 77 and captain Jos Buttler scored 43 runs for the English team.
England suffered the first loss in the form of opener Dawid Malan, who was sent to the pavilion by Matt Henry for 14 runs, then Johnny Bairstow 33, Harry Brook 25 and Moeen Ali scored 11 runs.
After the fall of four wickets, Joe Root and captain Jos Buttler showed responsible batting, Joe Root scored 4 runs while Butler scored 77 runs.
Apart from this, Liam Livingstone scored 20, Sam Curran scored 14 and Chris Woakes scored 11 runs. In the last over, Adil Rashid and Mark Wood shared a 30-run partnership and thus England scored 50 runs for the loss of 9 wickets in 282 overs.
Adil Rashid scored 15 and Mark Wood scored an unbeaten 13 runs.
Matt Henry took three wickets for New Zealand, while Mitchell Santner and Glenn Phillips took two wickets each.
Chasing England's target of 283 runs, New Zealand did not have a good start, Will Young was dismissed for zero on the total score of just 10 runs.
After the fall of a wicket, Devon Conway and Rachan Ravindra, who played the World Cup match for the first time, removed the burden of England's bowlers.
Both played brilliant strokes all around the ground and made the English bowlers helpless. Conway and Ravindra scored centuries and achieved the target in the 37th over.
Sam Curran took one wicket for England while New Zealand's Ravindra was awarded the player of the match award.
Pakistan will play their first match in the World Cup against the Netherlands tomorrow. All the matches of the World Cup will start at 1:30 pm Pakistani time.
