Cricket World Cup 2023: Joe Root says England must 'stay calm' despite loss to New Zealand

England must "stay calm" despite being trounced by New Zealand in their World Cup opener, says batter Joe Root.

The defending champions posted 282-9 in Ahmedabad, only for the Black Caps to chase it down inside 37 overs with nine wickets in hand.

"I don't think there's ever been a World Cup-winning side that hasn't had a bump in the road or a stumble along the way," Root told BBC Sport.

"We've just got to stay level and authentic to what we are as a team."

Root top-scored with 77 as all 11 England batters reached double figures - the first time such a feat has occurred in a one-day international.

But a number of soft dismissals hampered England's progress and their total felt no better than par. Jonny Bairstow half-hit a lofted drive to long-off to be out for 33, captain Jos Buttler poked behind when on 43 and Liam Livingstone chipped to long-on for 20.

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In between, both Root and Moeen Ali were bowled trying to attack the part-time off-spin of Glenn Phillips.

"It's always easy to look at things when they don't quite come off, but it enforces the way we are as a team and we want to go about our cricket in that way," added Root.

"We won't be seeing guys chipping it to mid-wicket or mid-off next game, they'll be hitting it 20 rows back.

"We can remind ourselves of how good we are and how intimidating we can be as a batting group. We want to double down on that, put sides under pressure and get those massive scores that blow teams away."

Under lights, with dew affecting the conditions, batting looked easier in the second half of the game and New Zealand cashed in.

Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra both made unbeaten hundreds in a partnership of 273, the fourth-highest for any wicket in the history of the Men's World Cup.

"On that pitch, after we batted, I thought we were about par or maybe just below," said former Test captain Root. "But the conditions just changed considerably

"In my mind, it wasn't far off a defendable score. The pitch played quite differently and we weren't at our best with the ball but you have got to give credit to them because they played exceptionally well."

For New Zealand, who were missing captain Kane Williamson and key pace bowlers Tim Southee and Lockie Ferguson through injury, it is a reversal of the thrilling final of 2019, when they were beaten by England in a super over at Lord's.

In that tournament, England found themselves in trouble after three defeats in the group stage and had to win their last three games in order to reach the semi-finals.

"It's important that we stay calm," said Root. "Look at us in 2019, we had hiccups throughout.

"When we do hit a bump in the road, we are a team that comes back strong and we double down on our identity."

England's next match is against Bangladesh in Dharamsala on Tuesday (06:00 BST).

"A very disappointing day," said captain Jos Buttler. "We were very much outplayed by New Zealand and it's a tough defeat to take.

"But it is just one loss at the start of a long tournament. We won't get too down on ourselves in the same way we wouldn't get too high if we were on the other side of it.

"We'll keep being positive and playing our way."

England were without Ben Stokes for the opening-day defeat by the Black Caps.

Test captain Stokes has come out of one-day retirement to play in this World Cup but missed out in Ahmedabad because of a hip problem, with his place going to Harry Brook.

After the match he was seen limping across the outfield.

"Ben's alright," said Root. "I'm not sure how long things are going to take for him but hopefully we can see him on the park as soon as possible.

"He wants to be out there and affecting games as soon as he can."