New Zealand steamrollered defending champions England by nine wickets in the opening match of the ODI World Cup, demonstrating again their knack of punching above their weight in showpiece events.

Devon Conway and World Cup debutant Rachin Ravindra smashed rapid unbeaten centuries to set up New Zealand's successful pursuit of a 283-run victory target, which came with 13.4 overs to spare.

It was a rematch of the heart-stopping 2019 final at Lord's in which England were declared winners via a now-scrapped boundary countback rule after the contest had ended in a tie.

Electing to field on Thursday, New Zealand's bowlers restricted their opponents to 9-282, a modest total considering the firepower in England's usually formidable batting line-up.

England's batters did not really fire but Joe Root (77), Jos Buttler (43) and Jonny Bairstow (33) provided some resistance.

However, England could not string together enough partnerships and kept losing wickets at regular intervals.

Matt Henry claimed 3-48 for New Zealand, while their three spinners shared five wickets on a hot afternoon at the Narendra Modi Stadium.

All 11 England batters made double figures — the first time any side have managed that in ODIs — but it was a patchy batting display overall.

New Zealand lost Will Young for nought in the first over but Conway, who made a career-best 152 not out, and Ravindra immediately turned the heat back on England with their free scoring.

The left-handers appeared to be competing with each other to reach the 50-mark — both getting there in 36 balls in the end.

Conway brought up his hundred in 83 balls.

Ravindra, who collaborated in an epic unbroken 273-run partnership with Conway, took one delivery fewer to notch up his maiden ODI hundred in what was a memorable World Cup debut.

Ravindra, like his stand-in captain Tom Latham praised the bowlers for making his job easier.

"The boys bowled really well to restrict them to 280 and I had Dev with me to steady things," Ravindra said.

Latham said the whole New Zealand team was "proud" of Ravindra, who batted at number three as a stand-in for regular captain Kane Williamson, who was rested due to a knee complaint.

While the win made a statement for New Zealand, for defending champions England the loss puts them on the back foot with a net run rate of -2.149.

However captain Jos Buttler indicated that while the loss hurt he was not too concerned.

"But it is still one loss at the start of a long tournament and we won't get too down on ourselves."

England will next play Bangladesh in Dharamasala on Tuesday, while New Zealand will look to consolidate their booming run rate against tournament minnows the Netherlands in Hyderabad on Monday.