"It was just too good to watch" - Tim Paine on England comprehensively losing to New Zealand in 2023 World Cup opener

Former Australian captain Tim Paine acknowledged that he enjoyed England getting pummelled by New Zealand in the 2023 World Cup opener on Thursday, October 5. Paine said he watched the entire match despite wanting to get an early sleep.

England, the defending champions, suffered a nine-wicket loss to New Zealand, contrary to expectations. The Black Caps needed only 36.2 overs to clinch victory after restricting Jos Buttler and company to 282. Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra struck unbeaten centuries after Sam Curran struck in his first over.

Speaking on SENQ Breakfast with Pat and Heals, the Tasmanian said that most Australian cricket fans would have enjoyed England getting 'smashed' like he did.

"They smashed them. I watched it. I wanted to have a bit of an early night last night, we got home from Allan Border field at about 10 o'clock and I thought, ‘I'll have a good sleep’, but it was just too good to watch. Watching England get smacked around the park. I stayed up for most of it and enjoyed it like I'm sure most Australian cricket fans did and hopefully it continues."

The Kiwis won a good toss as England's prolific batting unit struggled to hit boundaries like they normally would. Joe Root scored the only half-century for them and lacked support from other batters.

"It looked like last night, it was a sort of a bit dewy" - Tim Paine

Paine pointed out that dew had set in at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Thursday, making it easy for the Kiwi batters to hit boundaries off Mark Wood. The 38-year-old said:

"In India, that can be the issue. The faster you go over there, the harder it is to defend grounds. They're small grounds. They're very flat wickets. It looked like last night, it was a sort of a bit dewy. So, it was sliding onto the bat, and he was bowling 150 km/h. It looked like if he didn't hit the stumps, it was just flying away for four whether they hit in the middle of the bat or not."

England will next face Bangladesh on Tuesday in Dharamshala.