A world cup that was tipped to provide more than its share of upsets has so far progressed very much according to form even with defending champions England beaten in the opening game by New Zealand, the team they beat to win the cup on home soil four years ago.
Anyone suggesting the result was a ‘shock’ clearly hasn’t been paying sufficient attention to international cricket in recent times or New Zealand’s record in this tournament, having reached the final on both previous occasions in Australia and England.
The only surprise was the meekness of Jos Buttler’s normally aggressive team, with bat and ball, and the enormity of the victory. England’s 282-9 was well below par on a featherbed of a pitch and, as former captain Eoin Morgan said afterwards, “…they hardly threw a punch in anger. They will have to have some honest conversations before the next match.”
Opener Devon Conway (152*) and makeshift No 3, Rachin Ravindra (123*), added a record, unbroken 273 for the second wicket to complete an embarrassingly simple nine-wicket victory with a massive 13.4 overs to spare. Ravindra was only playing because captain Kane Williamson is still recovering from knee surgery – but he will be hard to drop now.
FIVE centuries in one day as the runs keep flowing at the #CWC23 ⚡️
— ICC Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) October 11, 2023
It's also the first time four batters have notched up 💯 in a single ICC Men's CWC match. pic.twitter.com/gmsf4qD0pi
Pakistan were briefly given a scare by the Netherlands when they wobbled to 188-6 but a stoic rearguard by the lower order carried them to 286 in 49 overs with the excellent allrounder Bas de Leede claiming 4-62.
There was genuine and merited confidence in the Dutch camp that they could chase the target down but, despite de Leede’s run-a-ball 67, they subsided to 205 all out, with speedster Haris Rauf the pick of the attack with 3-43, to complete victory by 81-runs.
Afghanistan imploded from 83-1 to 156 all out against Bangladesh, who completed a a straightforward six-wicket victory with half centuries from Mehidy Hasan (57) and Najmul Hossain (59*).
South Africa set the tournament alight on Saturday with a string of batting records in a total of 428-5 against a hapless Sri Lankan bowling attack. Quinton de Kock (100) and Rassie van der Dussen (108) scored excellent foundation centuries allowing Aiden Markram to reach 100 from just 49 balls. It was the highest total in World Cup history and the first time a team has scored three hundreds in a WC innings.
Sri Lanka may have been shell-shocked but they regrouped for the run-chase and regained a a modicum of pride with a total of 326 – although they still lost by 102 runs.
Tournament hosts India have planned the venues for their opponents with careful precision and it was no surprise when it was announced that Australia would face India in Chennai, one of the most spin-friendly grounds in the country. Australia do not play spin well. India selected three spinners and duly bowled the Aussies out for just 199 with Ravi Jadeja (3-28) the pick of the attack.
Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc struck early blows to reduce the run-chase to a potentially panic-inducing 2-3 – it could have been even worse but Mitchell Marsh dropped Virat Kohli off Hazlewood with the total on 20. Kohli (85) and KL Rahul (97*) added a match-winning 164 for the fourth wicket and India were off to the perfect start.
England will look to get their campaign back on track against Bangladesh on Tuesday while South Africa face Australia on Thursday. The game will be played in Lucknow, another of India’s famously spin-friendly venues.