England vs New Zealand: Injured Ben Stokes misses Cricket World Cup opener
Stokes, who was the hero of England’s 2019 final win over the same opponents, was a doubt ahead of the tournament curtain-raiser after missing the warm-up win over Bangladesh due to soreness in his left hip. England opted not to risk Stokes’ fitness and have stood him down.
Harry Brook, a late addition to the squad in place of the axed Jason Roy, came into the XI in Stokes’ place. England named six survivors from their triumph at Lord’s four years ago – Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Jos Buttler, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid and Mark Wood. Seamer Reece Topley missed out in favour of all-rounders Sam Curran and Moeen Ali.
The Black Caps were without captain Kane Williamson, still recovering from a ruptured ACL, but stand-in Tom Latham won the toss and opted to bowl first.
“We’re going to have a bowl, it looks a reasonably good surface but hopefully later on when he get a chance with the bat, it gets better,” Latham said.
England captain Jos Buttler admitted England would also have preferred to bowl first in the match, but added: “We’re very proud to be world champions and what we achieved four years ago but this is something new. We’re not defending anything, we’re here to attack and win it again.”
Additional reporting by Press Association.
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