BUTT SLAPPED

Captain Jos and his troops embarrassed by Kiwi beauts

- DEAN WILSON

ENGLAND suffered a horror start to their World Cup defence with a thumping from New Zealand by the widest of margins.

Forget the raucous chaos of a full house at Lord’s in 2019, sparked by Jos Buttler’s sprawling gloves affecting a run-out, this time it was the Kiwis’ turn to celebrate with as comprehensive a World Cup win as you will find.

A stunning pair of centuries from Devon Conway (152no) and Rachin Ravindra (123no) guided the Black Caps to a memorable victory in Ahmedabad.

The nine-wicket victory came with more than 13 overs to spare to put England on the back foot in this tournament right from the start, not only without any points but also with a poor net run rate that will need some rescuing.

But before they can even think about permutations down the line, they will need to work out how they managed to be so far off the pace in their first game.