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New Zealand come back in a big way to hammer England

In a stunning reversal of form, New Zealand thrashed England in their opening one-day cricket international by six wickets and with 20 overs to spare at Westpac Stadium in Wellington yesterday.

The win came just days after England outplayed New Zealand in all departments in a couple of Twenty20 matches.

Given an extra 30 overs, New Zealand lost the toss but from then on won everything in a morale-boosting performance.

England, opting to bat first, were all out for 130 in the 50th over and New Zealand knocked off the target with the loss of four wickets in 30 overs.

Bolstered by the return of captain Daniel Vettori and Jacob Oram, New Zealand showed no sign of the fragility evident when they spent the two shorter matches firmly on the back foot.

"We understood that we had to respond today and put in a good performance and whether we won or not was beside the point. But we came out and won, and won well, and it's a very happy dressing room," Vettori said.

England captain Paul Collingwood pinpointed his side's problem as simply not enough runs on the board.

"Where we fell down tonight, let's be honest, was with the bat. We were struggling to find the ones and twos even," he said.

"If we got up towards 200 runs it would have been a defendable total. New Zealand bowled well and fielded exceptionally well," Collingwood said.

New Zealand started yesterday by keeping England openers Alastair Cook and Phil Mustard pinned down -- the first boundary from Mustard came only in the seventh over -- and the run rate seldom rose above three.

After Chris Martin made the initial breakthrough, bowling Cook for 11 in the 10th over, the wickets fell at regular intervals.

Martin bowled Ian bell for five, Oram bowled dangerman Kevin Pietersen for six and Scott Styris bowled Mustard for 31 to have England at four for 67 by the 22nd over.

England didn't help their cause with three run-outs before off-spinner Jeetan Patel cleaned up the tail to finish with two for 14 while Martin and Styris both took two for 22.

While the England batsmen played as if the slow pitch held demons, Jesse Ryder and Brendon McCullum played three overs with caution and then launched into the run chase.

A six from Ryder and a four from McCullum lifted New Zealand to 18-without-loss and they never dropped below four runs an over after that.

By the 12th over Ryder and McCullum had taken New Zealand past 50 and hit seven boundaries, as many as England scored in their entire innings.
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