ODI World Cup 2023: New Zealand stand-in captain Tom Latham stays optimistic amid challenges

New Zealand stand-in captain Tom Latham has expressed confidence in his team for the curtain-raiser fixture on Thursday despite a lack of preparedness and injuries in the squad.

New Zealand is all set to take on England in the curtain-raiser fixture of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 on Thursday. However, their team has yet to play a practice session on the Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium surface. New Zealand stand-in captain Tom Latham was asked about his team’s under-preparedness.

The Ahmedabad pitch has two different kinds of soil and it becomes important for teams to get used to playing on both the surface types. The New Zealand cricket team arrived in Ahmedabad just two days before their first World Cup match against England. They faced Pakistan and South Africa respectively in their warm-up fixtures.

Tom Latham on the lack of adaptability said, “I think something we pride ourselves on as a group is being able to adapt as best we can. We are lucky that we have guys who have played plenty of cricket in these parts of the world, whether it be against India or in the IPL.”

Though the previous World Cup edition’s runners-up also have plenty of talent that has featured in IPL and become used to the conditions. Their experience on Indian surfaces can help the team overcome the challenge of quick adaptability.

The New Zealand cricket team is also dealing with injuries apart from a lack of preparation. Tim Southee will be missing the first game due to a knee injury while Kane Williamson is also confirmed as an absentee. Though, the Kiwis have shown brilliance in their two warm-up games.

The Kiwis managed to chase down 346 runs in their first warm-up game against Pakistan. New Zealand in their second warm-up game against South Africa posted 321 runs in the first inning. They eventually won the game by seven runs through the DLS method. New Zealand if anything will be quite positive about their batting display so far