Centuries from Rachin Ravindra and Devon Conway sealed New Zealand’s 9-wicket win over England in match No.1 of the World Cup.
Rachin Ravindra, Man of the Match, said, ‘Great to have a great day. Boys bowled and fielded well to restrict them to 280. Luckily I had Devon out there to show me how to do it. (I am) Very very close with Devon. Special to finish it off with him. 4-5 years ago, we all knew Devon would become the player he is. Above all he’s a great guy. It was yesterday (because of) the thing (niggle) with Lockie (when did he know he’ll bat at three?). Good to get the opportunity. We’ll see what happens. I’m actually quite a good sleeper luckily. There was some swing, but the surface was really good to bat on.’
Tom Latham, New Zealand skipper, said, It’s a fantastic performance. Fantastic partnership between Rachin and Devon, but it was set up at the start. Fantastic effort with the ball to restrict them to 280 on that surface, it was a total below par. Credit goes to our bowlers for that effort. Been a pretty good build-up since the warm-up games. We have played in these conditions in the last year or so, that is really important. The likes of two seamers (Henry and Boult) did a good job on top. We knew they (England openers) were going to come hard at us. Knew they would keep coming hard at us throughout the innings. We got wickets at crucial times, guys chipped in with some crucial overs and did well to restrict them to 280 odd from the situation they were in, that was outstanding. Our batters played, they played some outstanding shots, that was the most pleasing. The shots they played was fantastic, they reacted to what was bowled at them, certainly that wasn’t the plan when they went out to play. Both must have felt really good when they played shots. He (Ravindra) played a fantastic innings and super proud of the way he has come out and played his best innings at that position.