The last time England faced the Black Caps at a 50-over World Cup, they won by the slimmest of margins in a Lord’s final, but the margin in Ahmedabad was as wide as the Narendra Modi Stadium.

By the end boundaries were flowing off the bats of Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra at an alarming rate, the contest expected by those who attended was long over.

A total of 283 was chased down by New Zealand with 13.4 overs to spare and nine wickets remaining.

The start of England’s World Cup defence could not have been worse. Jos Buttler was visibly annoyed 24 hours after smiling during his pre-match press conference on Wednesday.

“Are you confident you can turn things around?”

“Yes, I do.”

“How do you do that?” I asked.

During his post-match press conference, he said, “Play better.”.

Four years ago, Jonny Bairstow was dismissed with the second ball of a World Cup match. He hit the same delivery for six this time.

England rarely looked that comfortable afterward, perhaps because he upset the cricketing gods.

The batting of the double world champions in white-ball cricket was unusually muddled.

His six-hitting has earned him millions of Rupees on these shores, but he fell lifting the ball into the hands of long-off, neither going for broke nor playing it safe.

Similarly, Liam Livingstone made the same mistake 25 overs later, and when England attacked, Harry Brook skied a catch to deep mid-wicket, while Glenn Phillips, who had previously taken six one-day international wickets, bowled Moeen Ali and Joe Root both within the first seven balls.