World Cup 2023 warm-up matches: New Zealand cruise past Pakistan, Bangladesh batters shine in Sri Lanka win

The ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 in India had an unofficial start on Friday as Pakistan took on New Zealand and Bangladesh played against Sri Lanka in the first warm-up matches for the upcoming ICC event. In Hyderabad, New Zealand gunned down a 346-run target to register a five-wicket win over Pakistan, while Bangladesh handed Sri Lanka a crushing seven-wicket defeat in Guwahati.

Williamson shines on return

In the New Zealand vs Pakistan game, Kane Williamson showed his class in his first competitive outing in six months while Rachin Ravindra sizzled at the top of the order in New Zealand’s five-wicket victory.

Barring the openers, Pakistan batters including Mohammad Rizwan (103 retired hurt off 91), Babar Azam (80 off 84) and Saud Shaukeel (75 off 53) had a good hit in the middle, helping their team post a daunting 345 for five in 50 overs.

New Zealand cruised to the target in 43.4 overs with contributions from Ravindra (97 off 72), Williamson (54 off 50), Daryl Mitchell (59 retired hurt off 57) and Mark Chapman (65 not out off 41).

Ravindra, batting at the top in place of Will Young, gave the team management another opening option alongside Devon Conway, who lasted only one ball in the steep run chase.

With the focus firmly on managing players’ workload ahead of the main competition, Williamson walked back into the dressing room after scoring a sublime half-century.

New Zealand come out victorious in the warm-up match today