(Image source: X.com)
[Saba Sports News] New Zealand secured a dominating win over the defending champions England in the opening match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 held in Ahmedabad.
Tom Latham, leading New Zealand, won the toss and elected to bowl first. While batting first, England somehow managed to post a score of 280-plus. Joe Root held one end for England, as the rest of the batters did not apply themselves on the pitch and failed to convert starts into big scores.
New Zealand came aggresive in the run-chase and handed a humiliating loss to Jos Buttler and Co. Rachin Ravindra and Devon Conway, both making their ODI World Cup debuts, registered a rollicking partnership of 273* runs, sending shockwaves to other teams in the tournament.
After England’s embarrassing defeat, their former captain Eoin Morgan, who led them to the 2019 World Cup trophy win, backed the English side and looked optimistic that The Three Lions would bounce back much harder.
“Eight of this squad were there in 2019, when we lost three group stage matches on the way to lifting the trophy, and they will definitely lean on that experience,” Morgan wrote in his column for the ICC website.
“There is no side that goes from start to finish at a World Cup without experiencing some sort of adversity, whether it’s losing games or having hiccups within games themselves. This will be no different. There will be a lot of calm heads in the dressing room, but there will also be a lot of honesty,” he mentioned.
Furthermore, the 37-year-old believes that despite having a bad day on the field on Thursday, England can still win the quadrennial tournament.
“The advantage of having this format is that one bad day doesn’t ruin your tournament, when previously one bad day could have you home within a week. I still think they can and will win this World Cup.”
England also now have to worry about their Net Run Rate, which got massively affected by the nine-wicket hammering they received from the Black Caps. They have their next two matches against the Asian sides, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, on 10th and 15th October in Dharamsala and Delhi respectively.