In the second of five instalments running throughout the New Zealand-England series, we delve into the Wisden Almanack archive to pick out a memorable one-day match between the sides. Here we look back at the opening match of the 1995-96 World Cup. Match 1: Nothing between them

Wills World Cup, 1995-96 - Ahmedabad
New Zealand won by 11 runs

The result may have been close, but the ambitions and expectations of these sides could not have been more different. New Zealand were keen in the field, took their chances, and capitalised on England's errors. England, at the height of Raymond Illingworth's selectorial dictatorship, were ill-balanced, ill-prepared and looked like they would rather have been elsewhere.

England had just completed a gruelling tour of South Africa, where they had lost the final Test and been hammered 6-1 in the subsequent one-day series. Angus Fraser had been dropped, Jack Russell had been selected at No. 6 (largely as a reward for his 277-minute rearguard in the Johannesburg Test), and England's captain Atherton was distinctly out of sorts. In fact, his only memorable contribution to the tournament was an ill-judged aside during a press conference, when he described a local journalist as a "buffoon". It was that sort of a campaign …

Almanack report
Scorecard

Andrew Miller is on the staff of Wisden.com.

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