New Zealand keep England to 282/9 in World Cup opener

Ahmedabad: New Zealand made regular inroads to keep England's long batting in check and restrict the defending champions to a moderate 282 for nine as the 50-overs World Cup got underway here on Thursday.

New Zealand spinners exploited the hot and humid conditions in the afternoon perfectly to be on top against England's free-flowing and aggressive batting approach, producing a collective bowling performance at the Narendra Modi Stadium.

With his part-time spin, Glenn Phillips delivered an unexpected but successful spell of 3-0-17-2 accounting for Joe Root (77) and Moeen Ali (11), while Mitchell Santner's 10-0-37-2 and Matt Henry's 10-1-48-3 were the key performances that helped New Zealand keep England well under 300 on a placid surface.

The first runs of the 2023 World Cup came off a six when Jonny Bairstow (33 off 35 balls, 4x4s, 1x6s) cleared the backward square ropes with a flick off the pads on the second ball of the tournament from Trent Boult (1/48).

A boundary followed soon as England collected 12 runs off the first over to make their intentions clear, but things changed thereafter.

Having troubled Dawid Malan (14) early on, Henry had him caught behind in the eighth over for the first breakthrough.

New Zealand did not have to wait long for the second wicket, as an inside-out shot over cover off Santner had Bairstow walking back, being caught by Daryl Mitchell comfortably inside the ropes.

With England not getting off to a flier, Harry Brook looked to be aggressive against Rachin Ravindra, hitting the left-arm spinner for two fours and a six in the 18th over but went for a shot too many.

Another short ball from the Kiwi spinner had Brook hitting high in the air, grabbed cleanly by Devon Conway for a 16-ball 25.

An inspired move to bring on Phillips to roll over his arm in the 22nd over yielded another success, with the right-arm bowler cleaning up Moeen (11) for the fourth wicket of the innings to keep England under the pump.

Moeen was through his shot already when the ball passed under his bat, which showed that the ball was indeed holding back a little after hitting the surface.

In the absence of the left-handed Ben Stokes, England's idea to promote Moeen to take on the spin in the middle-orders did not produce any results.

A 70-run association between Root and Jos Buttler (43 from 42 balls, 2x4s, 2x6s) for the fifth wicket provided England with the hope of a strong revival after early struggles, but Henry returned to have the England captain caught behind and peg them back again.

Buttler was guilty of playing the ball too close to the body as he looked to guide it down, but only edged it behind as yet another England batting star failed to convert his start into a significant score.

Having not played much ODI cricket over the last four years, it was a commendable effort from Root to have scored his 36th fifty in the format — which also included a ramp shot for six — but the senior batter was guilty of throwing away his wicket.

Root opted for a reverse sweep against part-time spin of Phillips — who also has kept wickets in the past for the Kiwis — but missed connecting with it and walked away after an 86-ball 77 (4x4s, 1x6s).

England's lower order also could not trouble the scorers much.