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

One innings into the World Cup and all 11 England players make double figures, the first time any team has done so in ODIs (men’s and women’s).

Pakistan’s captain Babar Azam acknowledged the generous hospitality his side received in India ahead of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, despite controversy over the players’ visas to enter the host country.

Azam talked about the last few days he and the Pakistan team have spent in India at the Captains’ Day event at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium on Wednesday, on the eve of the 2023 cricket tournament.

He said that after his team landed in Hyderabad city, it did “not feel like we are in India; it was like we are at home”. The Pakistani skipper also said on Instagram that his team was left “overwhelmed with the love and support” they received in the city from the Indian public.

There are not many players who burst onto the scene in quite as explosive a way as Harry Brook has done since he made his England debut in an innocuous T20 against the West Indies in January 2022.

In autumn 2022 it was hard to envisage an England Test team without Jonny Bairstow after his mammoth performances in the first Bazball summer, but just a few months later, England had to re-adjust their side to find space for both Yorkshiremen.

In the winter of that year, when England returned to Pakistan for the first Test series there in 17 years, it was Brook who finished as the top run-scorer of the series, an average of 93.60 and he had all but made himself undroppable.

It’s a score slightly lower than England would have liked especially after their strong start to the innings. New Zealand battled well, took wickets consistently and never allowed Jos Buttler’s side to get away.

The target is competitive but England will need to bowl well to defend this total.

England have managed to wrangle a passable total there but it has been an innings of frustration from the defending champions.

So many batters, Bairstow, Buttler, Livingstone, Brook, all made impressive-looking starts but failed to push on and it all fell on Root’s shoulders.

Root played well for his 77, but one misjudged sweep sparked a collapse and England were fortunate to limp over the line and avoid being bowled out in the World Cup opener in Ahmedabad.

England may decide to go for it in the final over...and they do, Wood with a shot over the ring, but short of the man on the boundary, that might have been more.

There are four men on the boundary on the leg side and just one on the off. A wide and a single helps England on to more than 270.

Rashid smashes one for 6, it was a length delivery and the third ball of the over has been dispatched.

He tried another but it was kept to just a single.

England will hope to hang on in this Boult over and have a bit of a go at Neesham in the last, with Boult on for the 49th.

Wood and Rashid have done well to hang on here and the runs have slowed to a trickle but importantly kept coming.

Henry will have his last one now, if it does go to the final over I’m not sure who will bowl it, although that’s looking more and more unlikely.

Wood and Rashid scamper for two, and are hanging on here, with five more runs added.

Boult will bowl this one, and England are hanging in there still with four more runs from the over and desperately trying not to get bowled out here.

England fans will be hoping Mark Wood can play an entertaining innings similar to the ones he did at Headingley during the Ashes, but the first one is just snuck away for a single.