Former England captain Nasser Hussain has said that the defending champions England desperately missed Ben Stokes in the 2023 World Cup opener against New Zealand. However, he feels that they have already got one bad performance out of the way in the tournament so far as well. With Stokes sustaining a niggle, he missed the first match in Ahmedabad as England suffered a nine-wicket defeat to New Zealand. Harry Brook came in place, but he fell for a 16-ball 25, hitting four boundaries and a six. England managed to post 282, but the Kiwis needed only 36.2 overs to reach the target where they lost only one wicket.
In his column for The Daily Mail, Hussain said, “England missed the nous of Ben Stokes to get them above par and they will just have to be better from now on. The one good thing is that perhaps they have got their bad performance out of the way early – if they did this in the semi-finals it would be all over. There are a lot of good teams in this tournament and if England are to get into the top four they cannot afford much more slip-ups. England were simply not at the races. It was one of those days when they were well below par and the opposition were excellent. It is rare for an England white-ball side to be outclassed these days but that was the case yesterday.”
READ MORE: “Can be the future captain of India” – Kiran More on Ruturaj Gaikwad
Meanwhile, Joe Root top-scoring with 77, but Brook, Jonny Bairstow, and Jos Buttler failed to convert their starts and bowlers also failed to pick wickets. However, Nasser Hussain applauded Rachin Ravindra, who has impressed on the opening day. He came to bat at No. 3, reached his hundred off 82 deliveries and shared an unbeaten 273-run stand with Devon Conway as well.
“Boy, what a find he has been. There has been a lot of talk about the superstars who might light up this World Cup but it was this youngster who made the biggest impression on opening day,” he said.”We saw Ravindra hitting four sixes in his 61 in a losing cause at the end of New Zealand’s one-day international against England at Lord’s last month but this, from a different position, was on another level. The sound the ball made off his bat and the shots he played were magnificent,” Nasser Hussain concluded.
