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New Zealand stand-in captain Tom Latham won the toss and chose to bowl first. Kane Williamson, as was expected, is sitting out for the Kiwis while England are without Ben Stokes. Going to have a bowl. Looks a reasonably good surface. Hopefully later on it gets better to bat. Preparation has been great. Guys came together from different parts of the world a week ago.Unfortunately Kane's not quite ready yet. Ferguson has got a bit of a niggle. Sodhi, Kane, Southee all miss out.”Incredibly, this is not the first time that these two sides are playing the opening match of a World Cup. That was in 1996 when the tournament was hosted in India as well and, even more incredibly, the match was in Ahmedabad. New Zealand, captained by Lee Germon, beat Mike Atherton's England by 11 runs.