<\/p>\n
England batsman Joe Root hit the first half-century of the World Cup on Thursday as the defending champions took on New Zealand in the tournament\u2019s opening game.<\/p>\n
The former England Test captain raised his 37th ODI half-century off 57 balls laced with two fours and one six off a reverse scoop shot.
\nEngland reached 166-4 in 30 overs.<\/p>\n
Earlier, New Zealand won the toss and put defending champions England in to bat in the opener with the English missing their talisman Ben Stokes due to a hip injury.<\/p>\n
The clash, at the world\u2019s biggest cricket stadium in the Indian city of Ahmedabad, is a rematch of the epic 2019 final<\/a> when England won a tied game on boundary countback.<\/p>\n Tom Latham leads New Zealand, who will be without regular captain Kane Williamson and pace bowler Tim Southee, both recovering from injuries.<\/p>\n Fast bowler Lockie Ferguson is also out due to a niggle.<\/p>\n \u201cLooks a reasonably good surface. Hopefully later on it gets better to bat,\u201d Latham said at the toss. \u201cPreparation has been great.\u201d<\/p>\n England skipper Jos Buttler confirmed Stokes is out with a \u201cniggle with his hip\u201d.<\/p>\n Harry Brook comes in for Stokes, who was selected for the World Cup as a specialist batsman but will be unable to bowl due to a long-standing knee injury.<\/p>\n Buttler said they would have bowled first had he won the toss.<\/p>\n \u201cLooks a really good wicket. Preparation has been okay,\u201d said Buttler at the toss. \u201cHad a good series against New Zealand at home. Very proud of the achievement four years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n The 13th edition of the World Cup has 10 teams and will run for 45 days in 10 Indian cities with the final in Ahmedabad on November 19.<\/p>\n England: Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler (wk\/capt), Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood<\/p>\n New Zealand: Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (wk\/capt), Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Matt Henry, Mitchell Santner, James Neesham, Trent Boult Umpires: Kumar Dharmasena (SRI), Nitin Menon (IND) TV Umpire: Paul Wilson (AUS) Match Referee: Javagal Srinath (IND)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" England batsman Joe Root hit the first half-century of the World Cup on Thursday as the defending champions took on New Zealand in the tournament\u2019s opening game. The former England Test captain raised his 37th ODI half-century off 57 balls laced with two fours and one six off a reverse scoop shot. England reached 166-4 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11090,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/large\/2023\/10\/051603587486a26.jpg?r=160821","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\tLine ups<\/h2>\n