Horror show on opening night threatens to bring England run to early end

WELL, what on earth happened there? Waking up this morning on day two of this World Cup to find their nightmarish, nine-wicket mauling by New Zealand was no dream, that is the question England must have been asking, longing for the video-gamer’s temptation: pause, quit, restart

- Malik Ouzia

With fewer people occupying 130,000 seats in Ahmedabad than there can be watching TalkTV at any one time, it was a match that began looking more like another of the World Cup’s muck-about warm-ups than its much-hyped opener — and how England looked as if they could have used another of those.

Afforded, strangely, the chance to kick-off a second tournament in a row, the holders set out to make a statement, roused by Jos Buttler’s proclamation that, despite their status, they had come to attack, not defend.

Instead, what they delivered was, at best, a rusty show. What they got in return was a dismantling from start to finish, steadily picked apart by a Black Caps attack made up of last men standing, then devoured in rather more hasty fashion by sensational centurions Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra (below), who ended the suffering with nine wickets and almost 14 overs to spare.