The 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup begins on Thursday and it does so with a repeat of the 2019 final as England begin the defence of their title when they go up against New Zealand in Ahmedabad to start the festival of cricket.
Both these nations will harbour hopes of getting through to the final once again and the winner here will not only get themselves off to a good start but just ease some of the pressure that is on them. The loser will leave this match with a little less wiggle room.
England
England go into the tournament as the second favourites to be crowned world champions again. They currently hold both white ball global titles so they are the team for the big occasion but it feels like they are nothing like as strong heading into this tournament as they were four years ago, especially in the bowling department and you really feel their success or otherwise in this competition will be determined by how they perform with the ball.
In the early stages of this tournament at least we know that their batting is likely to fire them into solid foundations but the test really will be how well they do or don’t bowl. Ahmedabad can be a very flat wicket when the pitches with a certain soil is used and there is talk of a belter of a pitch here. That will mean if England are going to win this one their batters will likely to do the majority of the work but any special effort from their bowlers won’t go amiss.
New Zealand
New Zealand head into this tournament off the back of a 3-1 ODI series defeat to England in England last month. They controlled the first game of that series but then lost the last three matches very tamely indeed and so they will know they need a much better effort than that if they are going to open their campaign with a win. I’m sure they will have been reminded plenty of times in the lead up to this tournament of the 2019 final so they shouldn’t lack for motivation.
Unlike England, I would expect the New Zealand bowlers to be up to the grade in this tournament, although it has to be said that they are up against a fearsome batting unit. The question comes over whether they have enough depth and quality to their batting to get the job done. This is likely to be a high scoring match so it is no use to New Zealand if they struggle with the bat in this match. If they can deliver the goods in that discipline they should be right in the game.
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Team News
It would appear that Ben Stokes has done something to a hip and will not feature in this match. Harry Brook probably wasn’t going to be in the starting XI had Stokes been fit but he will slot in for him now. Mark Wood and Reece Topley are both expected to be fit.
Despite playing in both of the warm up matches, Kane Williamson is not expected to be risked in this tournament opener which leaves Tom Latham to skipper the side. Trent Boult is around but there will be no Tim Southee after he dislocated his thumb in the ODI series in England.
Betting
I’m expecting a high scoring opening game for this tournament. It would make absolutely no sense to wait so long to host this tournament and it be a showcase for the game and then the match to take place on a rubbish wicket. Nearly every time we see an IPL tournament begin it does so with a brilliant wicket and the opening few games are high scoring. That is very much the trend that I expect to be followed here.
We saw in England last month that this England team are comfortable against this New Zealand bowling attack so the only thing that would deny this being a high scoring game is whether the Kiwi batting doesn’t deliver the goods. You can’t take too much from warm up matches but the unit performed in them. I’ll take the two teams to combine for more than 60.5 boundaries on a ground where the boundaries are very accessible particularly on a quality pitch.
Tips
Back Over 60.5 boundaries for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with William Hill
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