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The Men's World Cup 2023 got off to a remarkable stat-based opening thanks to England as the defending champions achieving a first in the ODI format on Thursday.
All 11 England batters hit double figures in a total of 282/9, making Jos Buttler-led side became the first-ever team to do so in the history of the international format for both men's and women's cricket. Buttler and the England coaching staff would have preferred not to see their innings go in such a direction, with only one who was able to make more than 50 runs was Joe Root. Root went past 50 in a strong batting line-up that featured true all-rounders as low as No. 9. Root scored the highest for England with 77 off 86 balls while Buttler also played well, scoring 43 off 42. But given Ahmedabad's excellent batting surface, an England team without the injured Ben Stokes would have aimed for a higher first-innings total than 282/9 to get their season started. The first team to come close to the record was the West Indies men, who lost against Australia by 37 runs in 1991. Courtney Walsh, the No. 11 player, was the only one who failed to reach double figures. And most recently, Australia's men came the closest, with Steve Smith being the only one of the 11 Australian contributors to go scoreless against India earlier this year. (ANI)
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