ICC World Cup 2023: NZ's trio of batting starlets guide Kiwis to healthy 322 for 7

Young and Ravindra gave the Kiwis some momentum against the Dutch bowlers (Pic: @BLACKCAPS/X)

New Zealand's trio of batting starlets, including Will Young, Rachin Ravindra and Tom Latham, defied the sluggishness of the pitch to construct well-paced fifties and lead the side to a healthy 322 for 7 against Netherlands on Monday.

After being asked to bat first, Young (70 off 80 balls) and Ravindra (51 off 51 balls) gave the Kiwis some momentum against the Dutch bowlers, who exploited the slowness of the track with an assortment of slow balls and cutters.

Captain Latham gave some impetus to the Black Caps while making a 46-ball 53 towards the business end of the innings.

The course of the innings was revealed very early when the Netherlands managed to tie down Kiwis openers with three maidens in a row.

It was Young who broke the manacles, driving pacer Ryan Klein through mid-off for a four and he notched up another boundary in the fourth over.

Devon Conway tried to give some muscle to the innings when he clobbered spinner Aryan Dutt, who had also opened the bowling along with Klein, for a massive six over long-on.

However, Conway (32) did not last long as his attempt to speed up the proceedings did not fetch a good result.

The left-hander jumped down the track against left-arm spinner Roelof van der Merwe and tried to deposit him over long-on, a repeat of the shot he played against Dutt, but this time the Kiwi found Bas de Leede in perfect position under the ball.

It ended the 67-run opening alliance but Ravindra, who made a hundred against England, and Young compiled a 77-run stand for the second wicket.

During this period, the Kiwis made runs at nearly 6 an over, but the Dutch did not allow them to motor away.

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New Zealand's performance was in stark contrast against the rollicking effort they dished out against England a few days back at Ahmedabad. But the Kiwis team management will certainly be pleased with the way their batters adapted and made substantial runs through a different method.

However, the dismissals of Ravindra and Young pegged back New Zealand a bit. Young could not read a slow ball from Paul van Meekeren and his attempted pull transformed into a simple catch to De Leede.

Ravindra too soon followed after he edged Van der Merwe to Scott Edwards behind the wicket.

However, the Kiwis kept themselves ahead of the curve through a 53-run stand between Latham and Daryl Mitchell (48 off 47 balls).

When Latham was the seventh batter to be dismissed at the score of 293 in the 49th over and the Kiwis might have felt the need to add a few extra runs.

Those runs came from the bat of Mitchell Santner, who made an unbeaten 36 off 17 balls as New Zealand made 50 runs in the last three overs much against the script of play.

(With inputs from agencies)