After a stellar opening day of the Cricket World Cup 2023, the focus now shifts to match number 2 of the tournament between Pakistan and Netherlands.
The high voltage clash will take place at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Friday (October 6). Injury took a toll from Pakistan’s cricket team as pacer was ruled out of the Asia Cup Super 4s stage due to a shoulder injury. Hasan Ali has replaced him in the squad but their bowling did not look promising like before during the warm up games they played in India.As for Netherlands, they are coming into this tournament with a stellar performance in the World Cup qualifiers beating the likes of West Indies and Zimbabwe for the spot in this major tournament.
Netherlands cricketer Bas de Leede has made a big statement, saying that the Netherlands have arrived in India for the World Cup merely not to fulfil formalities but they want to qualify for the semi-finals.
Newzealand win opener
Devon Conway (152*) and Rachin Ravindra (123*)-led New Zealand to victory by 9 wickets against England.
The Kiwis crushed the defending champions as England bowlers had no clue how to deal with the massive storms named Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra. Sam Curran started well for England’s bowling as he dismissed opener Will Young early and bowled two consecutive maiden overs. The New Zealand batters- Devon Conway and Racin Ravindra are relatively silent against Sam Curran.Defending champions England’s batters struggled on a sluggish pitch and made a below-par 282 for nine against New Zealand in the World Cup opener here on Thursday.Asked to bat first, England were served well by Joe Root’s 86-ball 77 but other batsmen were shackled by pacer Matt Henry (3/46), left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner (2/37) and part-time spinner Glenn Phillips (2/17).There were useful knocks by Jonny Bairstow (33) and captain Jos Buttler (43), but they failed to kick on against the 2019 finalists, who were led by stand-in captain Tom Latham.
