England's 3 biggest wins in lead up to the 2023 World Cup
Jos Buttler's England will want to go into their first match against New Zealand with the right frame of mind. Ben Stokes is back in the mix, but there is an injury cloud over his availability and Buttler has made it clear that the all-rounder will not play if he is not fully fit.
England won the last T20 World Cup on top of the 2019 World Cup and their band of bashers would want to take the trophy back home once again. New Zealand will give them a great fight as was evident from the recent ODI series between the two sides.
Here we take a look at England's 3 biggest wins in lead up to the 2023 World Cup:
#3 Beat South Africa by 118 runs, Manchester, 2022
England roared back to form as they thrashed South Africa in a rain-curtailed match. Batting first, the visitors posted 202 runs in 29 overs and then reduced South Africa to 6/4.
The pitch, initially expected to favor batters, turned tricky with damp conditions and some unexpected turn saw South Africa post their joint-lowest score against England and their second-lowest overall when they were knocked out for just 83 runs.
Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali stood out with their combined haul of five wickets for 51 runs in 10.4 overs. The all-left-arm pace attack started the carnage as Reece Topley, Sam Curran, and David Willey picked up five wickets between them and never allowed South Africa to get off to any kind of start.
#2 Beat Bangladesh by 132 runs, Mirpur, 2022
Jason Roy is not part of England’s World Cup squad but he slammed a remarkable 12th ODI century, his second in just five innings, and powered his side to a formidable total of 326 for 7 in this ODI at Mirpur earlier this year.
Defending this total, Sam Curran stood tall and picked up three top-order wickets to send Bangladesh hurtling in the chase. This opening salvo of three wickets in just eight deliveries condemned Bangladesh to their first bilateral ODI series loss at home since 2016-17.
Adil Rashid too chipped away with figures of 4 for 45 in his ten overs.
#1 Beat New Zealand by 181 runs, The Oval, 2023
Ben Stokes did his thing as he made a resounding comeback after 14 months in ODI retirement. He slammed his fourth century in the format off 76 balls and then raced ahead to claim the highest score in the format by an English batter, smoking 182 off 124 balls. This innings powered England to 368 in their 50 overs.
New Zealand were never really in the chase, but even their attempt to go after the total turned into an absolute nightmare. Chris Woakes wheeled away for an eight-over spell from the Pavilion End and picked up three wickets for 31 runs. Devon Conway was the lone fighter for the Kiwis with an impressive knock of 72. No other batter breached the 30-run mark as New Zealand folded for 187.