3 reasons why New Zealand are the team to beat at the 2023 World Cup

2019 World Cup runners-up New Zealand brushed past defending champions England in the 2023 World Cup opener on Thursday in a manner that'd make many feel that Jos Buttler was playing with a B team.

It was, in fact, New Zealand who were short of their captain Kane Williamson, the most experienced bowler Tim Southee, the fastest bowler Lockie Ferguson, and only leg-spinner Ish Sodhi. The first three players were down with injuries and after leaving out Sodhi, the Kiwis looked very short in the bowling department.

But stand-in captain Tom Latham had a field day. He rotated six bowlers to perfection in barely helpful conditions. Every time England, known for their aggression, tried to put foot on the paddle, they lost a wicket. On a 350-kind-of surface with some turn but nothing else, the defending champions ended up with 282/9.

Will Young got out on the first ball of the second over in the chase, igniting hopes of a thriller. But it was just a false alarm. Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra played two flawless knocks, scoring stunning unbeaten centuries - 152 (121) and 123 (96). The target was chased in 36.2 overs with nine wickets to spare.

New Zealand are labeled the dark horses every year (their black kits and nickname Blackcaps don't help) and reach the semis. This time they already look like title contenders and the team to beat. Below we detail three reasons why:

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#1 Amazing list of all-rounders

How many of the teams in this World Cup can be without their three best bowlers and still manage to restrict a team like England to an extremely sub-par score? Imagine India without Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, and Kuldeep Yadav.

New Zealand achieved the miracle through their amazing roster of all-rounders. James Neesham stepped up in Ferguson's absence in the middle overs. He didn't have the pace to enforce the wickets but contained runs brilliantly.

Glenn Phillips, their finisher and backup wicketkeeper, bowled in the death overs and got the wicket of England's top run-scorer Joe Root. Latham was so confident of his team at one stage that he put Ravindra through his all 10 overs despite him being expensive just to attack and try and force mistakes in the last overs.

All of this was when New Zealand also had Daryl Mitchell and Mark Chapman, who could've also bowled if needed. This flexibility of having a host of all-rounders where everyone can bowl at any stage at any time is like a T20 dream outstretched and enhanced in an ODI team. It's very rare too.

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#2 New Zealand are tactical giants

New Zealand's planning for each player was spot-on on Thursday. The heavily-analyzed wicket of Buttler showed that too. The wicketkeeper-batter was set but trying to target the gap at third-man with a late dab-kind-of a shot for a long time.

Neesham's pace made it difficult so Latham brought in Henry, who bowled his dangerous wobbled-seam delivery. It was angled in and Buttler was right to go for that shot again but the ball moved away from pitching and took the edge behind.

Latham's not the only New Zealand captain to have this kind of effect. Williamson is known for being tactically sound too. He has built his image after turning scores of matches around with his field placements and bowling changes.

When both of them were absent, Southee as captain did it against England. When all three were absent, Ferguson as captain did it against Bangladesh last month.

It's in the team. New Zealand plan and execute better than most teams. In a big tournament where you play against nine teams in different conditions, you can't always go by your gut.

It's still early days but there might come a time when the Kiwis would look like a side better prepared and adaptable than even hosts India.

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#3 A batting order that plays spin like a charm

Conway and Ravindra started brilliantly against pace but most of their consolidation happened against England's spin troika of Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid, and Liam Livingstone. It not only led bare Buttler's possible difficulties going ahead but also showed how well New Zealand's batters had trained for spin.

Since 2021, the Blackcaps (at 40.45) are only behind India (42.07) in terms of batting average against spin in ODIs among all international teams. Conway, Williamson, Ravindra, Mitchell, Phillips, Latham, and Chapman are all good players of spin.

As the pitches wear down and help spinners more and more, New Zealand could create a gap between themselves and the rest in the points table.