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New Zealand have crushed defending champions England by nine wickets in the opening match of the World Cup, demonstrating again their knack of punching above their weight in showpiece events.
Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra smashed rapid unbeaten centuries to set up New Zealand’s successful pursuit of a 283-run victory target, which they reached with 13.4 overs to spare on Thursday in a sensational start to the 50-over tournament.
It was a rematch of the heart-stopping 2019 final at Lord’s in which England were declared winners via a now-scrapped boundary countback rule after the game had ended in a tie – but, in contrast, this contest was remarkably one-sided.
Ravindra’s unbeaten 123 off 96 balls, studded with 11 fours and five sixes, earned the 23-year-old the player-of-the-match award on his World Cup debut.
Electing to field, New Zealand’s bowlers restricted their opponents to 9-282, a modest total considering the firepower in England’s usually formidable batting line-up.
England’s batters did not really fire but Joe Root (77), Jos Buttler (43) and Jonny Bairstow (33) provided some resistance.
But England could not string together enough partnerships and kept losing wickets at regular intervals.
Matt Henry claimed 3-48 for New Zealand and their three spinners shared five wickets on a hot afternoon at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
Born to Indian parents, Ravindra, whose first name is portmanteau of the christian names of Indian batting giants Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar, could not have asked for a better place to score his first international century.
“A hundred’s always special. But in terms of being able to perform in India, it is pretty cool,” the curly-haired all-rounder told reporters.
“It was nice to have my parents there watching. They flew over from New Zealand.”
All 11 England batters made double figures — the first time any side has managed that in ODIs — but it was a patchy batting display.
“I’m disappointed,. We were very much outplayed by New Zealand and it’s a tough defeat to take,” captain Buttler said.
“I thought we were well below-par. We were aiming for somewhere around 330 and the pitch somewhat played better under lights.
“But we’re not robots. Sometimes you don’t play as well as you would like. Everyone’s working hard, everyone’s prepared well and we were just a bit off it.
“In international cricket when you’re a little bit short and the opposition play very well, you’re going to lose the game of cricket.”
Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra. (Photo by Matthew Lewis-ICC/ICC via Getty Images)
New Zealand lost Will Young for a duck in the first over but Conway, who smashed a career-best 152 not out, and Ravindra turned the heat back on England with their free scoring.
The left-handers appeared to be competing with each other to reach the 50-mark quickest — both getting there in 36 balls.
Conway, who hit 19 fours and three sixes, brought up his hundred off 83 balls.
Ravindra, who shared unbroken 273-run partnership with Conway, took one delivery fewer to notch up his maiden ODI hundred.
“Obviously, a fantastic partnership between Rachin and Devon,” Tom Latham, who led New Zealand in the absence of Kane Williamson, said.
“Probably the most pleasing thing was Devon and Rachin just reacted to what was being bowled.
“Rachin played a fantastic innings and we are proud of him.”
New Zealand rested Williamson (knee) and fast bowler Tim Southee (thumb) to give them more time to recover from surgery.
England left out Test captain and star man Ben Stokes, who is nursing a minor hip injury, replacing him with Harry Brook who looked ominously good as he made a brisk 25 before then falling to Ravindra.
Root insisted the result was not a dramatic setback to England’s wider ambitions, noting they had lost key games on their way to winning the trophy in 2019.
“It’s important that we stay calm. I don’t think there’s ever been a World Cup-winning side that hasn’t had a bump in the road or a stumble along the way,” he told the BBC.
© AAP
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