New Zealand started their World Cup campaign on Thursday with a comfortable win against England at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, India. Kiwis won by nine wickets as they chased 283 runs target within 37 overs.

Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra smashed centuries to power New Zealand to the victory over defending champions England in the opening match of the World Cup.

Put into bat, England made 282-9, a total New Zealand overhauled with 13.4 overs to spare courtesy of an unbeaten 273-run stand between left-handers Conway (152) and Ravindra (123) in Ahmedabad.

The aerial shot of the world’s biggest cricket stadium showed less crowd for the first match of the Men’s 50-over World Cup 2023.

The clash was a rematch of the epic 2019 final when England won a tied game on boundary countback.

Tom Latham leads New Zealand, who will be without regular captain Kane Williamson and pace bowler Tim Southee, both recovering from injuries. Fast bowler Lockie Ferguson is also out due to a niggle.

“Looks a reasonably good surface. Hopefully later on it gets better to bat,” Latham said at the toss. “Preparation has been great.” England skipper Jos Buttler confirmed Stokes is out with a “niggle with his hip”.

Stokes, who was chosen for the World Cup as a specialist batsman but cannot bowl owing to a chronic knee problem, is replaced by Harry Brook.

If Buttler had won the toss, they would have started bowling, he claimed.