England v New Zealand LIVE: Result and reaction from Cricket World Cup 2023 opener as Kiwis win by nine wickets

The Independent’s Sonia Twigg looks at where England can go from here:

All the anticipation, all the build-up, all the replays of the 2019 final, the World Cup started, and England were dealt a crushing nine-wicket defeat at the hands of New Zealand. This was a game that was definitely not decided by the ‘barest of margins’.

Jos Buttler was left to admit that his England side had been ‘completely outplayed’, but the sheer dominance of New Zealand against the defending champions was ruthless and significant.

Here’s the full match report:

England’s World Cup defence began with a punishing nine-wicket defeat in Ahmedabad as New Zealand helped themselves to a slice of revenge four years in the making.

Organisers scheduled a repeat of the 2019 final to kick off this year’s tournament, but rather than a nail-biter to match the tension of that Lord’s classic, they had to settle for a thoroughly one-sided affair.

England needed a super over and a boundary countback to get their hands on the trophy last time around, but two majestic hundreds from Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra meant the Black Caps romped home in the rerun with almost 14 overs to spare.

A final word from Buttler on Ben Stokes: “We’ll wait and see I think he’s working hard with the physios and fingers crossed he can get fit as soon as possible.”

Jos Buttler said: “A disappointing day, we were very much outplayed by New Zealand, and it’s tough to take but it is just one loss at the start of a long tournament.

“I think there’s a lot of guys in our team who have played a lot of cricket, we won’t get too down on ourselves, as much as we wouldn’t get too up on the other end as well.”

On batting: “I felt we were well below par, I felt like we were aiming for something like 330. I think we just lacked being a bit clinical with our execution, I think some of our dismissals were the right shots but not being executed right.”

On the New Zealand batting: “I think they’ve played some really good cricket shots and got good value for them. The two guys played exceptionally well and we were well beaten today.”

Root added: “It’s always cagey in opening games. We under-performed with the ball and that’s why the gulf was so big in this game.

“I think being more consistent with a good length early on when you have got a bit of assistance with seam movement and swing, I just feel like we leaked, and we gave them plenty of scoring opportunities both sides of the wicket.

“I don’t think we need to spend a huge amount of time talking about it, it’s pretty obvious where we went wrong it’s just about how we don’t find ourselves in this situation again.”

Joe Root said to Sky Sports: “I think we were just below par in all departments if we’re being really honest. batting-wise I don’t think we had the best of the conditions.

“Every time we felt like we were building something we lost a wicket.

“Going into the field I don’t think we delivered anything near what we were capable of. There’s so much cricket at this tournament and it’s very important that we don’t panic and we re-affirm what we are as a team.”

New Zealand won with 13 overs to spare...just let that sink in.

Rachin Ravindra said after the game when he received the player of the match award: “Sometimes it’s a little bit unbelievable at times but it was great to have a good day out.

“Luckily I had Devon out there to show me what to do and it was cool. I’ve spent a lot of time with him and we’re very close mates and having him out there definitely helped.”

On when he found out he would be batting three, Ravindra said: “I think it was yesterday, lucky enough I got the opportunity and we’ll see what happens.”

In the two overs since drinks New Zealand have scored 36 runs. Although net run rate won’t matter for a while this is just hurting England.

It is a huge blow for the defending champions, not to lose but to be beaten in such a fashion having beaten the Kiwis in England during a pre-tournament bi-lateral series.

These two batters have been exceptional, especially Ravindra on World Cup debut, and they have demolished this England attack from the outset.

This has been a special victory and a memorable one, but England will have questions to answer before their next game.

The partnership is now 255 and getting bigger every minute, this could be the biggest partnership of the tournament, and it will certainly be difficult to beat.

Livingstone will have another, and there’s another boundary as Wood has to pick himself gingerly off the ground after diving for that one.

Conway has his 150, England have been hammered here by New Zealand.

Curran will try and change something, and Root tries to run after a high one but it has dropped over the rope, for a six just after the drinks break.

Did they get a message to start thinking about the run rate?

The next one is sent for four, this looks like they are in a hurry, a slower ball has been slapped to the boundary.

The partnership is now over 250. That was a brilliant over from the batters.