Jos Buttler Points Out What Went Wrong For England In World Cup Opener: 'New Zealand Outplayed Us'

England captain Jos Buttler has admitted that his side has been "outplayed" by New Zealand in the opening game of the 2023 Cricket World Cup.

New Zealand produced an all-round performance as they thrashed the defending champions England by nine wickets at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on Thursday.

Jos Buttler: 'We are not robots'

Buttler also said that it was OK if England didn't play well as they were "not robots" before adding one loss didn't mean England's tournament was over.

"We're not robots. Sometimes you don't play as well as you'd like. Everyone's working hard, everyone's prepared well, we were just a little bit off. In international cricket, if you're a bit short and the opposition plays well you're going to lose," Buttler said after England's loss.

New Zealand captain Tom Latham won the toss and asked England to bat. Former skipper Joe Root top-scored for the English side with 77 runs off 86 balls before falling to Kiwi part-time bowler Glenn Phillips. Buttler and Jonny Bairstow had good starts but failed to convert them as they got out for 43 and 33 respectively.

Kiwi fast bowler Matt Henry was the pick of the lot as he picked up 3 for 48 in 10 overs. The reigning champions managed just 282 runs in 50 overs. In response to that, the BlackCaps never looked in trouble even for a bit.

New Zealand lost just one wicket – Will Young, who fell to England all-rounder Sam Curran in the second over for a golden duck. Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra went on to score unbeaten centuries as the BlackCaps sealed the game with 82 balls remaining. Conway scored 152 and Ravindra scored 123, his maiden One-Day International (ODI) century for New Zealand.

Buttler: Still a long tournament to go

This year's World Cup is of the same format as the previous edition. England won the tournament despite losing three of their nine matches. Therefore, Buttler's side is aware that their loss against New Zealand is not disastrous.

"Disappointing day, outplayed by New Zealand, tough to take that defeat. One loss, still a long tournament. Lot of guys in our team have played a lot of cricket. We have beaten teams this way before and we have been at the end of such results before," added Buttler.

The English skipper went on to add that his side was "well below par" because they scored just 282 runs when they were actually aiming for somewhere around 330 as it was a fine wicket to bat, which only got better in the second innings. Buttler also would have bowled first had England won the toss.

Buttler also pointed out that one of the areas where England were not up to the mark in the opening game of the World Cup was they "lacked being clinical with our executions".

"Some of those dismissals, the right shots weren't quite executed. We will keep it positive, we'll keep playing our way, can't be too defensive. I think they played some really good shots and got value for it," said Buttler.

Meanwhile, Conway and Ravindra's stand of unbeaten 273 runs was the fourth-highest partnership in the World Cup for any wicket. The record belongs to the West Indian pair of Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels, who scored 372 runs between them against Zimbabwe in the mega tournament in Australia in 2015.

At 23 years, Ravindra, who was named the Player of the Match, became the youngest New Zealand batter to score a World Cup hundred. The Wellington-born batter was also the third-youngest player to score a century on World Cup debut, after Virat Kohli and Andy Flower.

England's next game is against Bangladesh on Oct. 10 in Dharamsala, while New Zealand next take on Netherlands on Oct. 9 in Hyderabad.