NEW ZEALAND SEEKS SWEET REVENGE ON WORLD CHAMPIONS ENGLAND!

NEW ZEALAND SEEKS SWEET REVENGE ON WORLD CHAMPIONS ENGLAND!

By Sandeep Hattangady

The business end of the ICC ODI Championship began with a match between New Zealand and England at the huge Ahemadabad ground.  NZ elected to field first and restricted England to 282/9 in 50 overs. Joe Root (77 in 86 balls with four boundaries and a six) held the entire innings together with his return-to-form fifty. However, skipper Jos Buttler (43 in 42 balls with two fours and two sixes) and Johnny Bairstow (33 in 35 balls with four boundaries and a six) contributed some decent knocks too. For the first time ever in ODI history, all the batters in a team got scores in double figures.Matt Henry (3/48) was the pick of the bowlers for the Kiwis. Mitchell Santner and Glenn Phillips also used their spin bowling to choke England's run flow and took two wickets. Trent Boult and Rachin got a wicket each. The New Zealanders  made short work of the modest total by centuries from Devon Conway who scored 152 and the new all rounder sensation Rachin Ravindra who scored a hard hitting ton. Keeping the NET RUN RATE in Mind the New Zealanders achieved the target in 36 overs. Looks like the Kiwis are on their way to winning the World Cup!