On October 5, England and New Zealand squared off in the opening match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. To kick off the competition, Jonny Bairstow and Dawid Malan of England walked out to the middle.
Tom Latham, the captain of New Zealand, called the toss and chose to put England in to bat first.
Trent Boult’s first over was faced by Bairstow, who also fielded the opening pitch of the competition. On the very first ball of the over, the England opener attempted to send a message as the defending champions by flicking Boult for a six over deep square leg. Bairstow’s dismissal against Imran Tahir in the opening ODI of the 2019 World Cup was a surprising outcome.
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On the fifth delivery of the over, the 34-year-old added another boundary by driving Boult for a four straight down the ground. Bairstow scored 33 (35) runs in his innings while slamming four fours and a six, but he was eventually out due to his inability to capitalize on his strong start.
Inability to get going caused his opening partner Dawid Malan (14 off 24) to edge a Matt Henry delivery to captain-wicketkeeper Tom Latham, becoming the tournament’s first wicket. As England struggled to 118/4 after 21.2 overs, Harry Brook (25 off 16) and Moeen Ali (11 off 17) both missed opportunities to make significant contributions.
Joe Root reaches the World Cup 2023’s first fifty goals.
With four fours and a six, Joe Root played a brilliant innings of 77 (86) while holding one end. The pair made 70 runs for the fifth wicket off 72 balls because to Jos Buttler’s solid support (43 off 42). Adil Rashid (15 off 13) and Mark Wood (13 off 14) both made late appearances to help England reach 282/9 in their allotted 50 overs. With statistics of 3/48 in 10 overs, Matt Henry was the Kiwis’ top bowler.
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