Styris enjoys winning feeling

Man of the match Scott Styris was delighted to start the BLACKCAPS ICC World Cup campaign in winning fashion against England in St Lucia.

Styris took two wickets as England were kept to 209 for seven from their 50 overs, before hitting an unbeaten 87 in a 138-run stand with Jacob Oram (63 not out) to complete a six-wicket victory.

He said: “We knew this was going to be the tough game in the group and we had to hit the ground running, so to speak.

“It’s a very good feeling to know that we have got the points in the bag from this game and if we go on and do well in the rest of the group matches we will take that into the Super Eights.

“It was great to take those wickets in the middle overs and that was the turning point. We thought 210 was a gettable score but we were made to work hard.

“We knew the only way we were going to lose this game was if we lost all our wickets so it was just a matter of batting out the overs. We seem to score at a reasonable rate anyway and we did that today.”

Skipper Stephen Fleming was also pleased with the win.

He added: “It’s a great win for us. Both teams were desperate for the points and I think that showed. We were quite tight but I think crucially a couple of older hands put their hands up at important times.

“Shane Bond with the ball and then Scotty (Styris) and Jake (Oram) with a great partnership to win the match and I think that’s what the game was crying out for.

“It was crucial to get on the board we thought and although we tell ourselves to go out and enjoy it there was still a lot of tension out there. And that’s good – it’s a World Cup. It’s a big relief now.”

Counterpart Michael Vaughan was grateful his side did not have too much time to ruminate on a costly defeat.

“Not the ideal start losing but we’re going to pick ourselves up now – we have a game on Sunday against Canada,” he said.

“New Zealand played a good game. They put us under pressure with early wickets. We then got back into the game. I think 210 was competitive but probably just a few short.”

“The toss may have been important but we could have played a lot better as well and that is the most important thing.”

The BLACKCAPS take on Kenya next, also at the Beausejour Stadium on Wednesday morning (NZ time).

Follow the match online at BLACKCAPS.co.nz, on Radio Sport and live on Sky Sports TV.