Defending champions England suffered a thrashing at the hands of 2019 runners-up New Zealand in the opening game of the 2023 World Cup, leading to several harsh reactions from the English cricket community.

New Zealand handed England a nine-wicket mauling at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad today (October 5) in the 2023 World Cup opener, chasing down a target of 283 within 37 overs.

Rachin Ravindra (123 off 96) and Devon Conway (152 off 121) both scored unbeaten hundreds as England were found wanting in the field. No matter what Jos Buttler threw at the two southpaws, they had the answers.

Earlier in the day, no other English batter apart from Joe Root managed to capitalize on their start and go pass fifty, despite all 11 of them going past 10. The ultra-deep batting line-up meant England looked to constantly attack and lost regular wickets in the process, leading to what ended up being a sub-par score.

The heavy defeat has already started drawing criticism from all quarters of the English cricket community including former players, media, and fans.

Eoin Morgan, under whose leadership England won the previous edition of the World Cup, said that England were “way off the mark” and that Buttler should be talking to his team immediately about their performance.

“It (Buttler talking to his teammates about the result) would be now. And the reason for that is they were so far off the mark. Joe Root here, just a few moments ago, talking about missing both sides of the wicket with the ball and possibly 30-40 [runs] short with the bat. That’s a lot of runs to be short by,” said Morgan.

Morgan said that England might have tried to ease into the World Cup instead of being aggressive like they are known to be. “Coming into a game where you’ve just defeated the opposition 3-1 in an ODI series, they (New Zealand) know that they have to bring close to their ‘A’ game in order to beat you. So they are chasing you as fast and as quickly as they can,” said Morgan.

“It is not up to you to try and find the balance [between attack and wicket-preservation] or try and ease your way into a tournament. Because I think that’s what they have tried to do here today. They were short by a long way today. Not just 30 or 40. And with the ball, they looked undercooked. They bowled both sides of the wicket which is not ideal by any stretch of the imagination. A really disappointing day.”

Nasser Hussain was equally scathing in his review of the game. “I am not putting it down to a change in conditions (between the first and second innings). I am just putting it down to one side were absolutely magnificent in New Zealand and the other side were way off the expectations,” said Hussain.

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