A disciplined bowling display from Matt Henry, followed by a record 273-run stand between Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra, helped New Zealand defeat England by nine wickets in the first match of the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 in Ahmedabad.
Speaking about the first game, Tom Latham & Co. won the toss and opted to field first. Bairstow got off to a flier as he smacked Trent Boult for a six in the second ball. Matt Henry drew first blood by setting up Dawid Malan beautifully, while Mitchell Santner picked up Bairstow for 33. Harry Brook then went bonkers against Rachin Ravindra, smacking him for boundaries, but Ravindra had the last laugh as he picked up Brook on the last ball of the 17th over. Glenn Phillips then cleaned up Moeen Ali for 11.
Joe Root and Jos Buttler steadied the ship for England with a 70-run stand for the fifth wicket before Buttler nicked one to the keeper off Matt Henry. Root amassed 77 runs before becoming the second victim of Phillips. Cameos from the lower-order batters helped England post 282/9 in 50 overs. Henry was the pick of bowlers for his spell of 3/48 for New Zealand, while Santner and Phillips picked two wickets each.
Chasing 283, New Zealand lost Will Young early on for a golden duck as Sam Curran started his spell with a wicket maiden. From there, Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra toyed with the England bowlers, putting together 273 runs for the second wicket; this is the highest partnership for New Zealand for any wicket in the World Cup.
The BlackCaps chased down the target with 13.4 overs and nine wickets to spare. Both batters registered their respective centuries in the course of the partnership. Conway remained unbeaten on 152, while Ravindra remained unbeaten on 123. England totally lacked discipline in the bowling, eventually losing the game.
Meanwhile, let us look at the stats and numbers from the 1st Match between England and New Zealand:
7 – Joe Root has registered his seventh fifty-plus scores in the World Cup, the joint-second by England batter in World Cup; he shares this spot with Garem Hick while Graham Gooch tops the list with 9 fifty-plus scores.
22 – Devon Conway completed 1000 runs in 22 ODI innings, the fastest by a NZ batter in ODIs. Glenn Turner is next on the list, with 24 innings.
Also Check : ODI WORLD CUP MOST RUNS 2023
152* -152 by Devon Conway is the third-highest score by a NZ opener in the ODI World Cup. Guptill tops the list with 237*, while Glenn Turner is next in the list with 171*.
3 – This game was the third instance of NZ spinners taking six wickets in a World Cup game.
273* – Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra recorded 273 runs for the second wicket, the highest partnership for NZ for any wicket in the World Cup. 168 between Lee Germon and Chris Harris against Australia is the second highest.
283 – The target of 283 chased by NZ is the highest successful chase in Ahmedabad in the World Cup game. India previously chased 261 against Australia in the 2011 World Cup
1 -Joe Root became the first England batter to score 1000 ODI runs against New Zealand.
4 – Devon Conway became the fourth NZ batter to score a century on World Cup debut, while Rachin Ravindra became the fifth batter for NZ to score a century in World Cup debut.