ODI World Cup digest: Head, Ravindra trade tons in epic clash; Netherlands shine again

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In the foothills of the highest peaks in the world, Dharamsala hosted the highest-scoring World Cup game of all-time as Australia held off New Zealand in a 771-run thriller that reached giddying heights and featured records galore.

Travis Head made a stunning 59-ball century as he and David Warner clubbed 118 runs in the opening powerplay and shared a staggering 175-run opening stand to underpin Australia's mountainous 388, becoming the first side in ODI history to post three consecutive 350-plus scores. But Rachin Ravindra produced a dazzling 77-ball century of his own while Daryl Mitchell continued his love affair with Dharamsala in making 54 to give New Zealand a chance to pull off their highest-ever ODI chase.

It was left to James Neesham at the end, as it had been in the World Cup final in 2019, and as he did on that occasion he went within one hit of stealing the game with an outstanding 58 off 39 balls. But he ended like his Lord's partner Martin Guptill, cutting a forlorn figure face first on the turf having been run out off the penultimate ball.

It was as much in what followed as it was in what Travis Head did that you saw why Australia chose to stick with a batter with a broken hand and, in effect, agreed to have a squad of 14 for the first half of the World Cup. If they got lucky, that is.

Head is a bit of an old-school Australian batter. He loves to hit the ball square, loves to hit it hard, and wears a big moustache in 2023, which is reminiscent of the cold ruthlessness of Allan Border and David Boon.

For six weeks leading into his comeback, Head has barely had a proper net. On the day before this match, Head batted for about 20 minutes. He got bowled, he got leading edges, and he shanked a few, but did not look in any discomfort. Then again, the pitches in the nets were not great. That hit was enough for him to be confident and give it a whack come match day.

James Neesham can be philosophical about it. "You worked for six and a half hours during the day, and it comes down to potentially two deliveries," Neesham said. "And four years ago, we worked for two months, and it came down to one delivery. It's just the nature of the game."

Scott Edwards once more dragged his team from the abyss, but it was the bowlers who led the victory charge as the Netherlands held firm in their defence of a middling total of 229 to record an emphatic 87-run win over Bangladesh. The result sees Bangladesh all but eliminated from the semi-final contention, while the Dutch have yet another famous victory to add to their collection - one that, aside from its impact on this tournament, in the grand scheme of cricket as a sport in the Netherlands will be yet another rung on an ever more impressive ladder of growth.

India versus England was among the most anticipated matches of the 2023 ODI World Cup. After all, it is the pre-tournament favourites (and the hosts) taking on the defending champions. But no one had imagined that England would be hanging by the thinnest of threads by the time this game would arrive.

With just one win from five games, England are lurking near the bottom of the points table. If they are to make it to the knockouts from here, every atom in this universe needs to work for them - there are that many permutations they need to go in their favour.

India (probable) 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 KL Rahul (wk), 6 Suryakumar Yadav, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Kuldeep Yadav, 9 Mohammed Shami, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj

England (probable) 1 Jonny Bairstow, 2 Dawid Malan, 3 Joe Root, 4 Ben Stokes, 5 Jos Buttler (capt, wk), 6 Harry Brook, 7 Liam Livingstone, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 David Willey, 10 Gus Atkinson, 11 Adil Rashid