Who: England vs New Zealand
The place: Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, India
When: Thursday, October 5, 2pm (08:30 GMT)
The ICC Cricket World Cup will choose up the place it left off 4 years in the past when then-finalists England and New Zealand meet on the world’s biggest cricket stadium in India.
If the opening match of the 2023 version is anyplace close to as thrilling because the 2019 final, the event might be off to a grand begin within the cauldron controversially named after India’s present prime minister.
By way of the squads, not a lot has modified from 2019 as each have retained most of their core group of gamers. Nevertheless, England’s blue-eyed boy of limited-overs cricket and World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan has been changed by his then-deputy Jos Buttler. In the meantime, New Zealand’s captaincy has quickly been overtaken by Tom Latham as Kane Williamson recovers from an ongoing knee damage.
New Zealand will hope to win the title that has eluded them within the earlier two finals whereas England will look to stamp their authority on the sport as they attempt to change into solely the third group after the West Indies and Australia to defend their title efficiently.
“Our fashion is to be aggressive and constructive and push the envelope.” 🏏💥💪
Hear solely from the skipper forward of our #CWC23 marketing campaign 🌍🏆
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) October 3, 2023
Damage watch
Whereas the Blackcaps will sorely miss their captain and most prolific batter, the group is not going to be brief on confidence, having not too long ago crushed Bangladesh in an ODI sequence.
They may also miss the providers of veteran quick bowler Tim Southee, who continues his restoration from thumb surgical procedure.
“No Kane and no Tim as nicely,” stand-in captain Latham stated forward of the opener.
Hear from Tim Southee on his delayed arrival to India following surgical procedure on his injured thumb in New Zealand. #CWC23 pic.twitter.com/TceOb0PRhj
— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) October 4, 2023
The massive information out of the England camp is that Ben Stokes might sit out attributable to a hip damage.
Buttler stated he’d fairly not take a danger by taking part in Stokes if he’s not totally match, given the size of the event.
“It’s not the time to take massive dangers initially of the event. It’s going to be an extended event,” Buttler stated at his pre-match press convention.
Face to face
No ODI match between these two opponents can come near beating the drama of the 2019 ultimate, however they’ve met on 95 events within the ODI format, and England are forward on the wins tally by one.
England have 45 wins in contrast with New Zealand’s 44, 4 matches didn’t yield a consequence and two have been tied – one being the 2019 ultimate, which was determined by a tiebreaker of boundaries scored.
Type
England head into the event on the again of two sequence wins, considered one of which got here in opposition to New Zealand.
In the meantime, the Kiwis additionally begin the World Cup with a sequence win within the subcontinent in opposition to India’s neighbours Bangladesh.
England: W W W W W
New Zealand: W W L L L
Listed here are the anticipated lineups:
England: Buttler (captain, wicketkeeper), Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley
New Zealand: Devon Conway, Will Younger, Henry Nicholls, Daryl Mitchell, Latham (captain, wicketkeeper), Rachin Ravindra, Matt Henry, Mitchell Santner, Lockie Ferguson, Ish Sodhi, Trent Boult