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England hinted at what may be to come by outclassing New Zealand in the first Twenty20 cricket international in Auckland tonight.
England opened the international segment of their tour with a confident 32-run win at Eden Park to begin a programme which involves two Twenty20 games, five one-dayers and three tests.
New Zealand's fragile batting was exposed as the top order dissolved, slumping to 49 for four pursuing England's 184 for eight.
Late fireworks from Jacob Oram, who smacked a defiant 61 off 39 balls, served only to delay the inevitable after the collective failure of those above him.
In front of a boisterous 30,000-strong crowd, debutante Jesse Ryder made a mixed 22, including a couple of heavyweight blows, but the contributions of captain and fellow opener Brendon McCullum, Ross Taylor and Jamie How were negligible.
Senior batsman Scott Styris did no better, and he clearly felt the pressure as the asking rate quickly mounted to 10 an over.
A wild slog to the leg side failed to connect as he was bowled for one in the ninth over by medium pacer Dimitri Mascarenhas, who finished with two for 19 off his four overs after earlier slamming an entertaining 31 with the bat.
That left half of the New Zealanders in the shed with just 64 on the board, and there was no way back against an England bowling attack a cut above the opposition.
Oram continued to hit out as New Zealand stretched their reply into the last over but he finally perished with the finish line out of sight.
Left-arm swing bowler Ryan Sidebottom was the pick of a fine English attack, finishing with three for 16.
Earlier, the England innings featured several momentum shifts after New Zealand invited the tourists to bat first.
Fast bowler Chris Martin tipped the early balance the home team's way by removing both openers in his first seven deliveries.
Luke Wright had made just one when a lifting delivery glanced his glove en route to wicketkeeper McCullum then Ryder accepted a catch on the mid wicket boundary from Phil Mustard, who made 20.
England's top batsman Kevin Pietersen was pure class as he helped himself to 43 off 23 balls, but his cameo was halted when he stepped down the pitch to offspinner Jeetan Patel only to see Taylor take a smart, low catch at mid wicket.
Ian Bell contributed just 12 before being bowled by Oram, then Mascarenhas took centre stage as he bludgeoned 31 off just 14 balls.
McCullum gave debutante Ryder one over of his medium pace, the Wellingtonian responding by conceding only two runs and snaring Owais Shah leg before wicket for 23.
Leading the team for the first time, McCullum inexplicably opted against giving Ryder another over, turning inside to Patel, who was promptly carted for four successive sixes over long on by Mascarenhas.
That lifted England to 148 for five at the end of the 16th over, with the tourists a good chance to reach 200.
Their cause was done no favours, though, in the very next over when Mascarenhas' gem of an innings ended when he slapped a shortish ball from seamer Kyle Mills directly to Patel on the third man boundary.
The New Zealanders bowled with good discipline, conceding just two extras, including only one wide.
Their best performer was Martin, who was bowled out at the top of the innings and took two for 34 off four overs, while Mills captured two for 43 off four and Oram was the most economical with one for 24 off four.
The second Twenty20 game is in Christchurch on Thursday.
SCOREBOARD
England
P Mustard c Ryder b Martin 20
L Wright c McCullum b Martin 1
K Pietersen c Taylor c Patel 43
I Bell b Oram 12
P Collingwood c Styris b Southee 26
O Shah lbw b Ryder 23
D Mascarenhas c Patel b Mills 31
G Swann not out 16
S Broad c Styris b Mills 6
R Sidebottom not out 5
Extras (1w, 1lb) 2
Total (for 8 wkts, 20 overs) 185
Fall: 12, 31, 65, 87, 117, 157, 160, 172,
Bowling: K Mills 4-0-43-2, C Martin 4-0-34-2, J Oram 4-0-24-1 (1w), J Patel 3-0-42-1, T Southee 4-0-39-1, J Ryder 1-0-2-1.
New Zealand
J Ryder run out 22
B McCullum c Shah b Sidebottom 9
R Taylor lbw b Sidebottom 0
J How c Pietersen b Mascarenhas 6
S Styris b Mascarenhas 1
P Fulton b Broad 8
J Oram c Bell b Sidebottom 61
K Mills c Anderson b Swann 11
T Southee c Mascarenhas b Collingwood 1
J Patel b Anderson 5
C Martin not out 5
Extras (6w, 17lb) 23
Total (19.2 overs) 152
Fall: 18, 19, 47, 49, 64, 70, 90, 102, 135, 152.
Bowling: R Sidebottom 3.2-0-16-3 (2w), J Anderson 4-0-31-1 (3w), S Broad 4-0-25-1, A Mascarenhas 4-0-19-2, G Swann 2-0-16-1 (1w), P Collingwood 1-0-15-0, L Wright 1-0-13-0.
Result: England won by 32 runs.
- NZPA
