CWC 2023 - Two New Zealand batsmen scored explosive centuries, England lost in a shocking manner in the first match.

 

The ICC ODI World Cup 2023 (CWC 2023) started from today at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. New Zealand started their World Cup campaign with a bang by defeating England by 9 wickets in the first match. England, playing first, scored 282/9 in 50 overs, in response to which New Zealand achieved a resounding victory by losing only one wicket in the 37th over.

For the Kiwi team, Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra played brilliant century innings and there was a record partnership of 273 runs between them. Rachin Ravindra (123* and 1/76) was adjudged player of the match.

New Zealand captain Tom Latham had won the toss and decided to bowl first and England got the first blow at the score of 40 in the eighth over when Matt Henry dismissed David Malan (14). After this, Joe Root took over from one end but wickets kept falling at regular intervals from the other side. Jonny Bairstow (33) was out on the score of 64 in the 13th over, Harry Brook (25) on the score of 94 in the 17th over and Moeen Ali (11) was also out on the score of 118 in the 22nd over.

Joe Root completed his 37th ODI half-century and made a 70-run partnership with captain Jos Buttler (43) for the fifth wicket. After Butler's dismissal on the score of 188 in the 34th over, Root along with Liam Livingstone (20) took the team beyond 200, but England got a big blow when Livingstone was out on the score of 221 in the 39th over.

On the score of 229 in the 42nd over, Joe Root was out after scoring 77 runs in 86 balls and England's hopes of reaching 300 were dealt a blow. Chris Woakes (11) was out on the score of 250 in the 45th over and Sam Curran (14) was out on the score of 252 in the 46th over, but Adil Rashid (15*) along with Mark Wood (13*) added 30 runs for the last wicket. By playing an important partnership, he took the team beyond 280.

For the Kiwi team, Matt Henry took the maximum of three wickets, while Mitchell Santner and Glenn Phillips took 2-2 and Trent Boult and Rachin Ravindra took one wicket each.

In response to the target, New Zealand got the first blow in the second over at the score of 10 and Sam Curran did not even allow Will Young to open the account, but what happened after that, England would not have expected at all. From here, Devon Conway played a tremendous partnership with Rachin Ravindra which did not give England a chance to come back into the match.

Devon Conway scored his fifth century and Rachin Ravindra scored his first century and thrashed the England bowlers. Both of them took New Zealand beyond 100 in the 13th over and 200 in the 27th over. In the end, New Zealand won with 82 balls remaining and England suffered a huge blow in the net run rate in the very first match.

The partnership of 273 runs between Devon Conway (121 balls, 152*) and Rachin Ravindra (96 balls, 123*) is the second highest ODI partnership for any wicket by New Zealand. The record in this case is in the names of Brendon McCullum and James Marshall (274 vs Ireland, first wicket).

New Zealand's next match in the World Cup 2023 will be against Netherlands on 9 October, while the England team will face Bangladesh in its next match on 10 October.