New Zealand beat England by five runs at The Oval to take a 1-0 lead in the Twenty20 series this evening.
England elected to bowl first but perhaps regretted that decision as the Black Caps racked up their biggest ever T20 total against England.
Led by impressive knocks in the 60s by Brendon McCullum and Hamish Rutherford and a quickfire 32 from Ross Taylor, New Zealand set the hosts a victory target of 202.
The hosts' chase began well as they notched 50 runs before the end of the fourth over, with Mitchell McClenaghan hit for 25 runs in the third.
The fourth did bring a wicket though as Nathan McCullum got Michael Lumb, who had scored 29 off just 15 balls.
England's swift start continued though as they kept up with the required rate before Alex Hales fell, misconnecting with a Roneel Hira delivery that was caught by James Franklin in the deep.
Captain Eoin Morgan only managed seven runs before he was spectacularly caught by Ross Taylor with England on 134.
Soon after it was Luke Wright (52) on his way back to the pavilion after edging McClenaghan to Tom Latham.
The hosts continued to stay within touch, with Jos Buttler and Ravi Bopara going at well over a run per ball.
Buttler was looking menacing but was removed in strange circumstances. He missed the ball but Bopara called for a run and keeper Latham managed to throw the ball underarm down the other end to run out Buttler.
That brought Ben Stokes in and, with 16 needed off the last over, the youngster hit a high six into the leg side.
However, Stokes and Bopara couldn't add 10 more and New Zealand will head into the second and final match with a 1-0 lead.
Pascal Lemesre
