England 7-214 (Eoin Morgan 46, Luke Wright 42, Andrew Ellis 2-40, Trent Boult 2-40) beat New Zealand 9-174 (Martin Guptill 44, Colin Munro 28, Stuart Broad 4-24) by 40 runs.
A strong England side exhibited an all round performance in the opening Twenty20 and won the match comprehensively against the hosts New Zealand at Auckland.
England hammered 214 with three wickets in hand in the allocated 20 overs and New Zealand managed 174 runs for the loss of nine wickets.
The first Twenty20 of the three match series was played at Eden Park, Auckland, on Sunday, February 9, 2013.
Brendon McCullum, the skipper of New Zealand, won the toss and opted to chase while sending England in to bat first. The visitors opened up smartly with Michael Lumb and Alex Hales who hit the first six of the day in the second over. He added another two fours before he was stumped smartly by Brendon McCullum off Ronnie Hira for 21 as the score touched 29 in 3.4 overs. Luke Wright got together with Lumb and the first dispatched 1 six and 1 four in the fifth over. Hira was punished for 21 runs by the two batsmen in the next over with 2 sixes and even fours.
Michael Lumb was dropped at 20 by Ross Taylor off Andrew Ellis and the duo added another 18 runs in the 8th over with 2 sixes and 1 four. Luke Wright was gone for 42 off 20 mere balls with 4 towering sixes and 3 fours. The second wicket fell at 89 in 8 overs as Lumb was caught by Hamish Rutherford off Mitchell McClenaghan for 22 with the addition of just two runs in the score. Eoin Morgan and Jonny Bairstow associated in the park and the first got 14 runs in the 10th over with 1 six and 2 fours. Bairstow smashed 2 sixes and 1 four, he was dropped at 23 in the 12th over and the pair added 81 runs in just 43 deliveries. Eoin Morgan scored 46 off 26 balls with 3 huge sixes and 4 fours as Jonny Bairstow became the fifth victim for 38.
Jos Buttler powered a quick fired unbeaten 32 off 16 deliveries comprising 3 lofty sixes and 2 fours as England thrashed 214 for the loss of seven wickets in 20 overs.
Trent Boult, Ronnie Hira and Andrew Ellis claimed two wickets each whereas Mitchell McClenaghan chipped in with one.
The Black Caps opened aggressively by scoring 13 runs in the first over when Hamish Rutherford hit two fours. Martin Guptill was doing well from the other end as Rutherford became the first victim for 18 at 31 in 3.2 overs. Brendon McCullum fell after scoring 10 runs as Ross Taylor joined in next with Guptill and they took the score to 77 in 9 overs. Taylor was caught by Jonny Bairstow off Steven Finn for 13 and was replaced by Colin Munro.
Martin Guptill hit the second six of his innings on the second ball of the 10th over and Munro followed him by 2 sixes in the next three overs. The batsmen were chasing nicely when Guptill was caught by Stuart Broad off Luke Wright for 44 from 32 balls with 2 sixes and 3 fours. The fourth wicket was lost at 111 in 12.5 overs and Colin Munro became the sixth batsman who went back to the dressing room for 28 as the score reached 128. The middle and late order batsmen were unable to continue the rhythm and Ronnie Hira was the only batsman who scored 20 from 11 with 1 six and 2 fours as the hosts scored 174 runs with one wicket left.
The English captain, Stuart Broad, was the highest wicket taker with four, Steven Finn got three and Luke Wright held two wickets.
England won the first Twenty20 with a margin of 40 runs and leads the three match series 1-0. The second game will be held on February 12, 2013, at Eden Park, Hamilton.
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