Ahmedabad: The ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 got off to a phenomenal stat-based start thanks to England achieving a first in the format.
All 11 England batters reached double figures in England’s total of 282/9, meaning that Jos Buttler’s team became the first ever to do so in the history of the international format across both the men’s and women’s game.
Statisticians the world over were licking their lips and sharpening their stat sharpies over the unusual feat, yet Buttler and the England coaching staff would have preferred not to have seen their innings go in such a direction, with only Joe Root going past 50 in a strong batting line-up that featured genuine all-rounders as low as No.9.
Root’s 86-ball 77 was the pick of the knocks from England, with Buttler also looking in decent form with his 43 from 42 balls.
But an England side missing the injured Ben Stokes would have been looking for a bigger first-innings total than 282/9 to start off their campaign, particularly on such a decent batting surface in Ahmedabad.
Five teams have got to within one batter of reaching the tally in the past
West Indies men were the first to get close to the record, with No.11 Courtney Walsh the only player not to reach double figures as they lost to Australia by 37 runs back in 1991.
And it was Australia’s men who went close most recently, with a Steve Smith duck against India earlier this year being the only one of 11 Aussie contributors not to score at least 10.
