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Jos Buttler has played down England\u2019s dismal performance in their Cricket World Cup opening match defeat to New Zealand and says the team remain positive despite being \u2018very much outplayed\u2019.<\/p>\n
England were completely dominated by the Kiwis in Ahmedabad on Thursday \u2013 who got some measure of revenge for the 2019 final \u2013 and won the match with nine wickets and 82 balls remaining.<\/p>\n
New Zealand won the toss and put England in to bat, with every single player getting to double figures but only Joe Root (77) making a sizeable score.<\/p>\n
England\u2019s total of 282 looked a long way short of par and that proved to be the case, with Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra both hitting unbeaten centuries in a partnership worth 273 runs \u2013 the fourth highest partnership in World Cup history and the biggest by any side against England.<\/p>\n
Despite the scale of the defeat, Buttler remains upbeat about England\u2019s chances in India and says it has underlined the need to stick to their attacking, positive style.<\/p>\n
\u2018It was a disappointing day. We were very much outplayed by New Zealand and it is a tough defeat to take. But it\u2019s just one loss at the start of a long tournament,\u2019 said the skipper.<\/p>\n
\u2018A lot of guys in our team have played a lot of cricket, we have beaten teams in this way before and been on the end of these results as well.<\/p>\n
\u2018We won\u2019t read too much into it or get too down on ourselves. Just like we wouldn\u2019t get too high if we had won in this manner.<\/p>\n
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\u2018I thought we were well below par and obviously, judging by how New Zealand batted, it showed that. We were aiming for around 330. It was a good wicket to bat on and I think it got better under lights. With the start they go off to, it was hard to build any pressure.<\/p>\n
\u2018We will keep being positive and play our way. It shows you need good scores on the board to be able to defend them.<\/p>\n
\u2018You can\u2019t be too defensive. We just weren\u2019t quite on with our execution. We were a long way short of our best but still made 280.\u2019<\/p>\n
Speaking to Sky Sports, Root was more critical of the side\u2019s display, saying: \u2018We were below par in all departments if we are being brutally honest. Batting-wise I don\u2019t think we had the best of conditions but we kept stalling after building partnerships.<\/p>\n
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\u2018It was a really frustrating day but it\u2019s important to remember that there is so much cricket in this tournament. It is important that we don\u2019t panic.\u2019<\/p>\n
He continued: \u2018We don\u2019t need to spend a long time talking, we know where we have gone wrong. It\u2019s how can we make sure we don\u2019t find ourselves in this situation next time.<\/p>\n
\u2018With the ball we need to be consistent with a good length early on. We leaked, giving them scoring opportunities both sides of the wicket. When have you seen a World Cup campaign where there isn\u2019t a stumbling block? We must stay calm.\u2019<\/p>\n