ICC World Cup 2023: The first five games

As the World Cup finally gets going, here's a detailed analysis of the first five matches of the round-robin stage

- Sumit Chakraberty

Forty-eight years ago, when the quadrennial ODI World Cup began, the West Indies were the dominant team. Now they don’t even figure in the tournament. Afghanistan and the Netherlands qualified ahead of them this year. A lot has changed since that inaugural World Cup in 1975. Six of the ten teams are evenly matched, and the other four can cause upsets.

Ten teams and 45 games to decide the four semi-finalists in a round robin league across 10 venues in a sprawling country will be a test of adaptability. From Chennai to Dharamsala, Kolkata to Lucknow, the conditions will vary much more than in a World Cup held in England or Australia. We get our first look at the 10 contenders in the first five matches, starting with a clash between the 2019 finalists, England and New Zealand, in Ahmedabad.

ENGLAND VS. NEW ZEALAND, AHMEDABAD, 5 OCTOBER

The 2019 World Cup final between these two teams at Lord’s was a crazy affair, with overthrows from a deflection off Ben Stokes’ bat giving England a reprieve. The match remained tied after a super over and was decided in England’s favour on an archaic boundary count rule, leaving the Kiwis aggrieved. The ICC has junked that silly rule now, but England don’t need it any more.

The defending champions, who also won the T20 World Cup last year, will be the stronger side going into the 2023 World Cup opener. The attack-at-all-costs approach England took under Eoin Morgan has continued under the current ODI captain, Jos Buttler.