England set Twenty 20 Record

England were simply on fire in their opening international Twenty20 match in New Zealand, as they thumped the home side by 40 runs in the impressive Eden Park Stadium in Auckland. In doing so, they scored their highest score in T20 cricket.....

First Twenty20 international, Auckland: England 214-7 (20 overs) beat New Zealand 174-9 (20 overs) by 40 runs

Despite losing the toss in bright sunshine, England were thrilled to see such small boundaries at the home of New Zealand rugby, the drop in pitch also allowing decent bounce on a decent looking wicket.

England went into the game with a win and a loss from their two warm up matches, against a NZ XI, but from the moment Hales and Lumb strode to the crease, there looked real intent to use the conditions to their favour.

Hales struck the first maximum of the innings in the second over of the innings, and from that moment on, England never looked back.

Lumb was kept off strike for the opening few overs, due to singles being taken at the end of each over, but even the loss of Hales (21 from 16 balls) failed to stop England going at ten runs at over.

Luke Wright wasted no time in getting into the swing of things, as he also farmed most of the strike, the Sussex man going to hit a superb 42 from just 20 balls, with some lusty blows.

When Lumb finally did get some strike of the ball, he also wasn't going to miss out as he found the stands with some big shots.

Wright was to fall next, although he could have fell earlier than he did, with New Zealand helping to contribute to their own downfall, with poor fielding and dropped catches.

England after ten overs, were already in three figures, although Lumb (22 from 15 balls) had also departed by this point.

It mattered not one bit though, as Eoin Morgan (46 from 26 balls) was joined by Yorkshire's Jonny Bairstow (38 from 22 balls), and the six fest continued through the next set of overs.

Lurking on the touchline was Jos Buttler, and the Somerset man needed little time to get used to the conditions, as he took over from the left handed Morgan, once again smashing the ball to all parts.

He took the score over 200 for England, and even though a couple of late wickets (Patel and Broad) made the wickets column a little more respectable, England were able to match the Australian score from 2005 on this ground, and finish on 214-7.

At the half way point however, most people inside the ground, including the commentators, could not decide if this was still enough, given the small boundaries at both ends of the ground.

One final note from the England innings, a total of fifteen sixes had been hit, a marvelous display of power hitting.

It was always going to be tall order for the home side, to match England's run rate, but a lively start with Guptil (44 from 32 balls), they were always in the race for the opening eight overs or so.

They key to England pegging the blackcaps back, was obviously captain Brendon McCullum, and it took a superb piece of fielding from Eoin Morgan to account for him, from the bowling of Steve Finn. Running backwards as McCullum skied one, Morgan looked totaly at ease as he took a catch most people would have spilt.

It was a defning moment in the game, whereas the home side had spilled several chances, most of the difficult, then England were showing them how it was done with some superb fielding.

Stuart Broad was to once again shine with the ball, taking 4-24, whilst there was also three wickets for Steve Finn.

Mention must also goto Ross Taylor on his return to the New Zealand side, following his fall out on tour later last year, which led him to miss the tour to South Africa. He was given a standing ovation on his way to the wicket, however just twenty minutes later, the home crowd was stunned as he made his way back having made just 13 from 14 balls.

England wrapped up victory well before the final ball, although there were some antics in the last over as Dernbach and New Zealand number 11 McClenaghan were ready to come to blows as the batsman tried the 'ramp' shot a couple of times, and England's fast bowler sending down a beamer!

As the match ended though, both came together in a friendly encounter, and all was forgotten.

A fantastic performance from England, who go one nil up in the three match series.

England's highest T20 scores:

214-7 v New Zealand, Auckland, 9 Feb 2013

202-6 v S Africa, Johannesburg, 13 Nov 2009

200-6 v India, Durban, 19 Sept 2007

196-5 v Afghanistan, Colombo, 21 Sept 2012

MATCH SCORECARD (BBC)

New Zealand H D Rutherford, Martin Guptill, Brendon McCullum (C, W), Ross Taylor, Colin Munro, James Franklin, A M Ellis, Nathan McCullum, R Hira, Trent Boult, M McClenaghan

England Alex Hales, Michael Lumb, Luke Wright, Jonathan Bairstow, Eoin Morgan, Jos Buttler (W), Samit Patel, Stuart Broad (C), James Tredwell, Steve Finn, Jade Dernbach