‘Sabka saath sabka vikas’ – Fans react as England create unique record with their batting against New Zealand in ODI World Cup 2023

England created a unique record in the inaugural match of the ODI World Cup 2023 against New Zealand. For the first time in the history of the tournament, every batter in a team has managed to register double digit scores. The ODI World Cup which started in the year 1975, has never seen such an instance before the one in this season’s opener.

Every batter in England scored at least 10 runs in the match against New Zealand. Every batter from England got starts, but not everyone converted them into big ones. In fact, barring Joe Root and Jos Buttler, no other batter scored more than 40 runs in the innings. Yet, England ended up scoring 282 runs in their innings. Jonny Bairstow opened the innings for England along with Dawid Malan. The two openers registered scores of 33 and 14 respectively.

While Bairstow scored 33 runs in 35 balls, Malan played a slow knock and was dismissed for 14 runs in 24 balls. It was Joe Root, England’s number 3, who anchored the innings of England and played a long innings. The experienced batter scored 77 runs in 86 balls and held one end up.

England stays in the game with lower order hitting capabilities

There was not enough support for Root in the other end. Harry Brook entered the middle and played a fine cameo. The youngster scored 25 runs in 16 balls and was undone by Rachin Ravindra. Moeen Ali was promoted up to number 5. The Southpaw scored 11 runs in 17 balls and could not do much damage with the bat.

In came Jos Buttler and looked in a fine touch in his stay in the middle. Along with Root, Buttler framed a good partnership for the fifth wicket. Buttler scored 43 runs in 42 balls and helped the revival of England’s innings. Soon, the two set batters were dismissed, which signaled a collapse of the lower order of England.

Every batter contributed to the team’s total. Liam Livingstone scored 20 runs in 22 balls. Sam Curran scored 14 runs in 19 balls. Chris Woakes scored 11 runs in 12 balls. Adil Rashid and Mark Wood scored an unbeaten 15*(13) and 13*(14) respectively and helped England to score 282 runs in their 50 overs.

Here’s how the fans reacted to England’s achievement: