Defending champions England's batters struggled on a sluggish pitch and made a below-par 282 for nine against New Zealand in the ICC World Cup 2023 opener on Thursday.

Asked to bat first, England were served well by Joe Root's 86-ball 77 but other batsmen were shackled by pacer Matt Henry (3/46), left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner (2/37) and part-time spinner Glenn Phillips (2/17). There were useful knocks by Jonny Bairstow (33) and captain Jos Buttler (43), but they failed to kick on against the 2019 finalists, who were led by stand-in captain Tom Latham.