The ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 is all set to get the underway at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on October 5 with 2019 winners England taking on runners-up New Zealand in the opening clash. Ahead of the tournament opener, all the ten captains were in Ahmedabad for the Captains’ Day event. Post a roundtable and a press conference, the captains of all the ten teams posed with the trophy, the picture and video of which has gone viral on social media.
Take a look at the iconic picture and a video which has gone viral:
Eyes are on the prize ahead of the @cricketworldcup 💥#CWC23 pic.twitter.com/jfCQtcCdXo
— ICC (@ICC) October 4, 2023
Several key players are set to miss the tournament opener. While New Zealand will be without Kane Williamson and Tim Southee, England too could go in the first match of the competition without their charismatic all-rounder Ben Stokes.
Tom Latham will be leading New Zealand in the absence of Williamson. Speaking to reporters before the first match, he said: “Yeah I guess any team that doesn’t have Kane in it is obviously…we’d certainly be better off having him.”
“But I think from our point of view for him to be here, to be at the World Cup is a testament to, I think the work that he’s put on over the last four to five months to be where he is,” he added.
“He (Southee) is unavailable for selection just in terms of what happened to his thumb a couple of weeks ago, but he’s recovering nicely,” Latham said at the same presser.
On the other hand, England captain Jos Buttler said that Ben Stokes is doubtful for the England match.
“We’ve been nursing a few guys over the last month or so. Hopefully we’ll have a clean bill of health to pick from. He (Stokes) got a slight sort of niggle with his hip, but fingers crossed that that’ll be good news for us. He’s working hard with the physios and we’ll know more when the guys arrive for training today,” Buttler said at the pre-match press conference.
