KEY POINTS:
Jacob Oram can't return fast enough for New Zealand's flagging one-day cricket fortunes, with captain Daniel Vettori hoping to rush him back for Saturday's third ODI in Bristol.
The matchwinning allrounder, nursing a strained hamstring, chatted to soccer legend Sir Bobby Robson in the Riverside pavilion as New Zealand plunged to a 114-run loss to England in the first one-day international.
The result, which further boosted England's soaring self-belief and lowered the heads of New Zealand's confidence-sapped players, left the tourists at big odds to win the five-match series.
Vettori said Wednesday's second ODI in Birmingham may arrive too soon for Oram, but Saturday's potential must-win match was a definite option.
"He'll struggle to play in the next game and we'll just push him as hard as we can for the following one," Vettori said.
"Because we've got such a big break after this tour, we can push it a little harder than we normally would with him.
"He's one of the best one-day players in the world so every time you take a guy like that out of your side it's a real loss.
"Not only his steadiness with the ball but his power with the bat would have come in handy today, and maybe we wouldn't have had to force the run chase quite so much early on, because Jacob can take a game away from a team."
In Oram's absence, New Zealand could carry the bare minimum five bowlers so Vettori had few options when centurion Kevin Pietersen and Owais Shah lashed out.
Scott Styris suffered most, going for 63 off eight, while Tim Southee had a torrid ODI debut, sending down four no-balls and conceding 31 off his last two overs.
Paceman Mark Gillespie, dropped for Southee today, might come into contention again for Birmingham.
England racked up 307 for five, just the third time they'd passed 300 against New Zealand, as they plundered 71 off the last five overs.
Vettori said the onus was on himself, Styris and Kyle Mills - who had Ian Bell caught behind off a no-ball from the first delivery of the match - to lead the way at Edgbaston.
"You look at the experienced players, it's not the junior guys' responsibility to stand up and perform, it's the guys who've played over 50 one-dayers.
"It's their responsibility to win games for the team, and at the moment none of us are doing that.
"Confidence is relative. There's guys in the team feeling all right with their performances.
"As a whole, we're obviously right down there because we're not playing as well as we can and our performances haven't lived up to our own expectations."
Brendon McCullum, who creates a buzz every time he walks out to bat in England, offered some brief fireworks but when he was caught for 36 New Zealand's chase was all but over.
James Marshall will again be on thin ice after scratching around for four off 25 balls before he was run out by a direct hit.
Potential options at No 3 include Daniel Flynn, who hit composed run-a-ball 34 before an incorrect caught behind decision, or Ross Taylor or Gareth Hopkins.
The problem now is stopping England's roll, a side looking ever more a polished, well-balanced one-day unit.
"We put in two good performances, but we know New Zealand will fight back. They will come hard at us, they've got the characters in the side that can do it and they've done it in the past," captain Paul Collingwood said.
"We're not going to get too far ahead of ourselves, but if we put in performances like that, on our day we can beat anybody."
- NZPA
