South Africa: England and New Zealand Open Cricket World Cup 2023 in a Repeat of 2019 Final

4 October 2023
Daily Maverick (Johannesburg)
By Keanan Hemmonsbey

England will take on New Zealand in the opening match of the 2023 Cricket World Cup on Thursday at the 130,000-capacity Narendra Modi Stadium in India.

In a replay of the 2019 Cricket World Cup final, England and New Zealand will face off again, but this time in the first match of this year's edition, on Thursday.

Instead of Lord's Cricket Ground in England, they will clash at the 130,000-capacity Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad in India -- the largest cricket stadium, by capacity, in the world.

It's a fitting opening to the quadrennial tournament.

"To play the opening game here at an amazing venue is pretty special," stand-in Black Caps skipper Tom Latham said to the media on Wednesday.

"We've played England a lot recently over a few formats over the last couple of years... We're solely focused on the job at hand tomorrow [Thursday].

"We've had time to reflect on what a fantastic game it was four years ago [the World Cup final in 2019]. Everyone will probably say it's one of the best games of cricket to be played.

"From our point of view, we've parked that and we're really looking forward to what the challenges present tomorrow. To play a fantastic England side in a World Cup opener is really special. It can't get much better than that."

After both teams scored...

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