ICC Cricket World Cup 2023: England vs. New Zealand Opening Match Preview

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The ICC Cricket World Cup will begin on October 5, 2023, as The last time finalists England and New Zealand will face each other in the tournament’s opening match. It is going to be an exciting match as New Zealand will look to take revenge for the last final loss against the current World Cup Champion, England, who won the match by pure luck last time in the final as both teams played two super over in which England won by the most four rule in double super over which is now changed.

England is once again said to be the favorite to win the World Cup in India, but it is not going to be that easy because the Asian teams will be more dominated on the Spin friendly track, which is one of the weak points of England as they struggled to win a single test match in India even when they were heavily dominated their BazBall play style around the world.

New Zealand is the team that mostly reached the finals in the last ten years but was never able to win except for their ICC World Test Championship. They have always been the dark horses who are never the favorite to reach the final, but somehow, they are able to reach the finals of almost every ICC Event except the last T20 World, in which they lost to Pakistan in the Semi-Final.

Where To Watch ENG VS NZ 1ST ICC World Cup 2023 Match

Match	England vs New Zealand 1st ICC World Cup Match, 2023
Date & Time	October 5th, 2023, Saturday, 2:00 PM IST
Venue	Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad

Player Injury Report For ENG vs NZ 1st ICC World Cup Match

There is no latest injury concern news for England and New Zealand teams as all the players are fit to play, but there is Kane Williamson, who came back to the ODI team after suffering an ACL Injury and is still in recovery mode and will miss the first match of the World Cup 2023 against England.

ENG vs NZ Head-to-Head ODI Record

Match Played	95
England Won	45
New Zealand Won	44
Tie/NR	2/4

ENG vs NZ Head-to-Head Record In World Cups

Match Played	10
England Won	5
New Zealand Won	5

Both Teams are among the strongest teams in the ICC World Cup, and any team can win the match, but England will be more likely to win the match than New Zealand. In the recent head-to-head matches, England defeated New Zealand by a 3-1 series victory.

Weather Conditions For ENG VS NZ 1st World Cup Match

There is a low chance of rain as to the weather forecast, only a 24% chance of rain in the morning and a 7% in the evening. There will be some clouds in the morning and a very little chance of chain.

Pitch Report of Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, In England vs New Zealand Match On October 5th, 2023

Match Played	28 Matches
Batting first won	16 Matches won
Batting second won	12 Matches won
Average 1st innings scores	235 Runs
Highest Team innings total	365/2 by RSA
Lowest Team innings total	85/10 by ZIM

Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, recently favored the batters more than bowlers, and it is one of the stadiums that support pace bowling more compared to spin bowling, but the only advantage spin bowlers have in this stadium is the ground dimension, which is quite big.

The tournament’s first match will favor the batter because the pitch will be fresh, and even the pacer will get some swinging conditions. The stadium has seven-plus pitches and both types of soils (Black Soil and Red Soil). The black Soil favors spinners more, and the red soil favors batters more.

Team Preview Of England

The Defending Champion, England, is still considered the favorite to win the World Cup 2023 as they have an amazing team because around 8 out of 11 players are proper all-rounders, which makes them quite invincible.

England won their first World Cup in 2019, which is quite an amazing thing for them because they are the ones who invented the game of cricket, and before 2019, they came closest in 1979, 1987, and 1999, where they finished as the runner-ups.

England played their warm-up match against Bangladesh, winning it by four wickets under DLS Method. England tested all their bowlers in the warm-up match, as nine team bowlers bowled at least two overs.

Important players for the England Team in the match against New Zealand

1- Moeen Ali will be one of the most important players for England as most pitches are going to favor spinners, and Ali has a lot of experience playing in England as he played for Chennai Super Kings. He is known for his power hitting and off-spin, which will be crucial for the England Team. He scored 56 runs in just 39 balls against Bangladesh, and in the last match against New Zealand, he picked up four wickets.

2- The Captain of England, Jos Buttler, will be the most important batter for the England team, as he has the most experience to bat on the Indian pitches and has been in good form. He scored 418 runs in the last eight matches with an average of 52.25.

3- Adil Rashid is going to be the main spinner for the England team as the pitches of India are going to favor spinners more, and Rashid has been the only main spinner for England. H picked up 12 wickets in the last five matches with an economy of 5.98.

Team Preview New Zealand

New Zealand team is an unexpected one as they don’t have any megastar players like England have Jos Buttler, India has Kohli and Rohit, but New Zealand is the team that does not have someone who is a megastar except Kane Williamson, who is not going to play the first match. Still, they are the team who know how to fight back and win the match by team contribution rather than relying on just 2-3 players.

Important players for the New Zealand Team in the match against the England Team

1- Devon Conway will be the main batsman for the New Zealand team in the absence of Kane Williamson, and he also has an amazing ODI record of 46.00 average in 22 matches. He scored 78 against South Africa in the ICC World Cup 2023 warm-up match.

2- Daryl Mitchell is one of the most informed batters in New Zealand, as in the last six matches, he scored 251 runs with an average of 50.2, and he can also bowl some overs.

3- Mitchell Santner is one of the finest spinners in New Zealand, and in recent times, he started to bat more by pushing himself up the order. He took 91 wickets in 94 matches with an amazing economy of 4.87.

England vs New Zealand: Probable Playing 11 of England

Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Liam Livingstone, Jos Buttler (c), Ben Stokes, Harry Brook, Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid, Sam Curran, Reece Topley, Mark Wood

England vs New Zealand: Probable Playing 11 of New Zealand

Devon Conway, Finn Allen, WA Young, DJ Mitchell, Mitchell Santner, Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Tom Latham (C), Tim Southee, MJ Henry, Trent Boult